Introduction

Hebrew chapter 8 main topic is “ God’s True Tabernacle, God’s True Covenant”. From the old testament, we know that God had a covenant with Adam, God had a covenant with Noah, God had a covenant with Abraham and God had a covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai. Later God has a new covenant with mankind when His only Son, Jesus Christ was sent to us.

When we finished reading, we would be perplexed, what was God trying to tell us? When we read the bible, we will gradually understand when we begin to learn in the process of practising. What do we learn? God’s will is to set us free and restore us to the glorious image He created us. God wants our willingness to walk according to His word and His will is for us to have faith in Him.

We have to understand the good nature of God to understand God is to free us from bondage and God is our healer. In Hebrew chapter 8, God told us of a real tabernacle and an image. For example, when you go to a real estate agent to buy a house, the first thing you see is not the building but an image of a building. What is an image of a building? It is a sandbox with a few models exactly like the same thing but a miniature. You could not live in the model house, they are not the real thing. The real image of the building has not been built, they only let you see the model first but at this moment, it confuses people.

They thought these models are the houses, they are going to buy. Can you live in the model house? No, you cannot. The model is just a reference for the customer to show them that the house when they buy the house in the future, it will be like the model. In fact, what God had shown us in the old testament was also a model. How do I explain? The model is an example of what they serve as an image and the description of heavenly things.

Just as when Moses was going to build the Tabernacle, God revealed to him in Exodus chapter 25 verse 40 “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. What does it mean? The Tabernacle on Earth should be built according to God’s will. Moses built a model of the Tabernacle for the people of Israel to see. As a result, the Israelites were very unlucky and they were deceived by the shadow. Why? When they saw through this shadow, they thought that this shadow was the Tabernacle.

Grasping the essence

** Those who do not grasp the essence are grasping only a shadow. The most important quality of a Christian is whether that person looks like Jesus or not looks like Jesus.**

Looking like Jesus or not looking like Jesus, we can differentiate if this person is a real Christian or not a real Christian. If you said you do not look like Jesus but you are a Christian. Where is the problem? In the name, you are a Christian but in the actual fact, you are not looking like Jesus. If a Christian believes in Jesus, believing in Jesus means you imitate Jesus. If a Christian does not look like Jesus, that is really big trouble.

The New Testament is telling the truth; many Christians still could not grasp the new testament’s essence. The true covenant must be carved into the heart of the man. When Moses was on the mountain of Sinai, Moses’s covenant with God was carved on the stone, the new covenant was about God sacrificing His son Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of the old covenant was sheep or an ox and how could they be the same? One was engraved on the stone as the law and another was engraved on the heart.

What is God doing? God is screening and filtering out the excellent and the inferior ones. God is finding the real ones who are grasping the essence. In fact, in this generation, there are many feigning Christians. Why? They are feigning because they like to be fake. They are not trying to harm anyone but they are filled with behavior-based things.

Brothers and sisters, we have to understand our Christian faith is based on faith and Abraham opened the path of faith. When Abraham made his covenant with God, Moses had not appeared yet. Moses led the Israelites four hundred and thirty years later but was not able to scrap Abraham’s covenant based on faith.

In the bible, God had dug many holes. Once I was preaching in Chinese and the title of the sermon was “The Rock of the falling man”. This sermon was forwarded by a Pastor and went viral on the internet. Why did he post this sermon? This Pastor discovered using this sermon was able for him to argue that he was the one who caused many people to stumble. In fact, it was not the Pastor who made these people stumbled but these people stumbled themselves. “ The Rock of the falling man” has brought a very important message. Today, brothers and sisters think carefully about how many pits in the bible and it was uncountable.

I am giving you several examples, after God’s son Jesus Christ came and on Sabbath day, he healed many people which caused many Jews to be confused. If Jesus was the Lord of the Sabbath, how dare he violated the Sabbath? These were the things that brought a lot of confusion, this is a good example of grasping the shadow rather than grasping the essence.

If a person is not grasping the essence, what reaction will they give? On Sabbath day, Jesus healed the sick and those who were born blind were able to see. At that time, the Jews were not comprehending the blind could see but instead focused on healing the sick on Sabbath day. Their logic of thinking was so weird and why were they thinking like this? Our God came to the Earth, why healing had to be on Sabbath day? Sabbath day had caused the Jews to be confused.

In the bible, it was recorded that the King of the Jews was Lord Jesus Christ and the Messiah, they hoped for came out from Bethlehem, Judea. Did not the old testament mention that Jesus Christ came from Bethlehem? Why brought Jesus out from Nazareth? Why did not Jesus move to Bethlehem after he was born? God did not do this and instead, Mary was pregnant, went to Bethlehem and gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. You would say “Isn’t this a joke?”

God’s original intention is to filter out God’s people for those who grasp the essence from those who do not grasp the essence and can recognise who is our Lord.

The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” John 9:30-33 NIV
During my life journey of serving God, I met many strange Christians. There was a Japanese student who was suffering from depression, I prayed for him and his depression was getting better. He went home to his hometown to visit his bedridden grandfather and invited his local church people to pray for his grandfather but he was not healed. He concluded that his grandfather was not healed but at least his grandfather’s condition did not deteriorate. This Japanese student contacted me and I prayed for his grandfather and he was able to get down from the bed to walk. His grandfather was healed completely and within seconds, he deleted me from his contact list.

God choose those who grasp the essence and let go of those who cannot grasp the essence.

“On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. Malachi 3:17-18 NIV

Actually, God is doing one thing and what is God doing? Some people fall, some people rise, some people serve God, some people despise God, some people are evil and some people are kind, in this way, we can separate them. Can you imagine, what will happen if we use the same method to read the bible as we used to? The Bible is inspired by God and is the truth. Unfortunately, many people like to extract things out of context, and that caused big trouble.

Previously, I came across an article and it quoted the verses from Jude.

But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Jude 9:9 NIV

The person who wrote the article was trying to express his view that Christians are unable to rebuke the devil. I am very puzzled as Jude stated that Archangel Michael was unable to rebuke the devil and was only saying “The Lord rebuke you.”

I could not find the source of this passage but what I see is that Jesus often rebukes the devil to retreat. I was very confused so who should I listen to? Of course, listening to Jesus is easier. Obviously, Jude and James were Jesus’s brothers. Who should we listen to? Jesus or Jesus’s brothers?

Today, we have to understand, needless to say, we have to listen to Jesus, imitate Jesus and not imitate Jude. I choose to imitate Jesus as He rebuked the devil and we can rebuke the devil too do not grasp the shadow. Why did God put the book of Jude in the bible? Please read the Bible carefully as the bible also mentioned that Judas the traitor killed himself by hanging himself, am I right?

Brothers and sisters we have to begin to understand there are many pits and why did I say that? Pharisees used a lot of effort reading the bible and they put in more effort than you and I. How did they become the species of viper? The reason was that they do not grasp the essence and the context. The Pharisees are good people because they kept the tithe and give a tenth to God. The only flaw they have is the following verses in Matthew chapter 23.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Matthew 23:23-24 NIV

God’s beautiful covenant

What are Pharisees?It is to flip the truth of the Bible, regards the unimportant as important and important as unimportant that become Pharisees. Bible did not say what was important and what was unimportant. It seems that it was mentioned, seems that it was not mentioned in the Bible and the message was not conveyed clearly. It was very vaguely said that Jesus returned from Nazareth. When we are reading the old testament, we are like in the clouds. In fact, the Bible is hiding all these things inside.

Today, I am going to tell you what the essential thing is. As long you are a person who desires to be like Jesus, longs to pursue God and longs to love God.

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:5 NIV

Why were we warned to be very careful about building the Tabernacle in the Old Testament? The truth is mostly hidden away, this is why those who seek will find it. If you want to fake it and be pretentious from the outside, you are a Pharisee. Today I am going to be very blunt to all brothers and sisters including the leaders, do not fake in front of me, only say without action. A fake person who is only able to say all the nice words, and shout slogans but in their heart, they are unwilling to do it and do not want to sacrifice anything. This is the description of a Pharisee.

The theme for today Hebrews chapter 8 is God’s true Tabernacle and God’s true covenant. Today what I am going to share is a very important message. If you are real, your heart will be willing, you will offer yourself and I am certain who is real and who is fake. God has given me a special grace. Beware, do not play fake with me if today or tomorrow I am not disciplining you but one day I will discipline you. When I was in a management position at a Company, I hated when my subordinate only reports the good news but not the bad news. I dislike subordinates playing around with me.

There is no fear in love

We have to understand God loves us; we have to understand there is no fear in love. Do you understand? A real Tabernacle is our Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ will support this Tabernacle to manifest God’s glory so those who are in this Tabernacle may have the true rest.

If you read God’s words carefully, you will discover our faith is based on faith itself. In the Bible, it said this righteousness is given through faith but I think a righteous person is born through faith, we have to be victorious through faith. You could not prove if you believe. Our God is opening a faith-based journey but Pharisees would like to show evidence of their path in their journey.

If you believe you are God’s son, you do not need to say to the devil that I will prove to you. If you have to prove to others and show them the evidence then you do not believe. Brothers and sisters, if you want to prove anything today, I must say that you are on the wrong path. Why? Devil would ask “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus would not tell the devil, I will prove it to you.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Do you understand now? I have set free one of the sisters and she wants to prove to me that she is good enough. I used her because she is faithful not because she is good enough. We should not be under the control of behaviour-based beliefs.

Once we get into the behaviour based, we will stumble on the rock. Today, God has given us the real Tabernacle to build His glorified Church, which is His Tabernacle and His dwelling place. Our God has given us the real covenant, this is not a powerless covenant but a covenant with power. We have to understand, throughout our life, our satisfaction is solely in Jesus Christ. Our God owns the universe, if today you do not rely on God but depend on your own ability, you will encounter many weird things.

Today, we have to apprehend in the Bible, Abraham and Isaac were only a shadow, God offer His only son Jesus Christ and that is the real covenant. When Abraham offered Isaac, God stopped Isaac from being the offering and prepared a sheep for the offering. Isaac came down from the altar and offered the sheep on the altar. Was not the sheep prepared by God Himself? In the new testament, Jesus Christ, the son of God was nailed to the cross and that is the true sacrifice.

Our Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son had already died on the cross for us, we have to ask ourselves do we believe or not believe? Those who believe in Jesus Christ, do not need to prove themselves because for those who believe in Jesus Christ enter into the promise of Abraham by faith in Christ. That promise is a promise based on faith. We do not need to provide any evidence but just solely to believe. When we have faith, God will do what we believe through the power of the Holy Spirit.

A very good example is many of our brothers and sisters are willing to tithe, some are willing to give a twelve, and some are willing to give 30 per cent. Do not think I will thank you as I do not bother if you do an eleventh or twelve of the tithes. The key is that you are true to yourself and are doing the tithe with a willing heart. God has carved His law in our hearts through our faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit. If we sinned, we offend God, our hearts will be the first to know and do not require the law to tell us.

Building God’s Tabernacle, the materials are God’s people, God’s Spirit dwells among us, God rests among us and we rest in God. Today, we have to know we are truly God’s children. You might be asking “ How do you know; you are a child of God?” You believe that fulfilling God’s words is simple. If you do not believe in God’s words, fulfilling God’s words is difficult and torturing. If serving God for you is tough, it means you do not believe in God. If you believe in Him, serving God is a very simple thing.

Faith-based, Grasp the essence

Brothers and sisters, my point is that in the Bible, God had prepared many pits and they are based on behaviour. When we begin to understand faith-based and we will be able to cross over all the pits to come to God without fear. We know God loves us, we love God, and serving God will not be a difficult thing.

When we know God, we believe is a God with power, full of grace and He has authority over the whole universe. God is worthy for me to serve Him and I knew very well in my heart. I perceive clearly in my heart and mind that I know God is the answer to all my questions. This is what we called the real covenant.

What is the real Tabernacle and real covenant? The real Tabernacle is established by God. What is a real covenant? God used His only son Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice, carrying the cross to redeem our sins and take our curses away. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” The author was arguing so do not be mistaken, the covenant of Jesus Christ is no longer a covenant without power, a covenant can draw the resources of Heaven, can draw the power of God that is the real rest. Remember clearly, that everything that is not faith-based is a sin.

Abraham had opened the path of faith-based and through the faith, we are victorious. If we follow faith-based beliefs, we will become more and more like looking like God and looking like Jesus Christ. What you do will become more and more like Jesus Christ had done. You will carry the glorified image of God’s glory and this is God’s covenant. God restores your glorious image. God will set you free, the Devil will be unbearable as the Devil detest that we have the image of God. The devil likes us to believe his lies such as “ I am stupid, I am lousy” All these lies come from the Devil.

Conclusion

Today, no matter if you can do it or not, Jesus Christ has opened up a new truth for us. Do not follow the old testament but the new covenant. According to the new covenant and the real covenant, God is determined to set us free. Through our faith in God, we will have the glorious image of God. I am telling you that you will surely live in God’s glorious image as God had redeemed us through His power.

What is salvation? Salvation is God’s desire to restore the original image that he created and make us like God. It is all up to us to make a choice to have faith or not have faith or use behaviour-based or faith-based. Do you believe we are a treasure in God’s eyes?