The Exposition of the Tabernacle: The Culture Exchange

By Javon Rahman Bertrand

The Exposition of the Tabernacle" is a prophetic and practical study of the tabernacle as given to Moses and the priesthood who ministered unto the Lord. This book will take you from sinner to priest and king. The Exposition of the tabernacle is about how our lives are transformed from the culture of the world to the culture of the kingdom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781937400323

Book preview

Exchange

Chapter 1: The Culture of Sin ∼ Dying in Sin

What is a culture? A culture is the beliefs and customs of a particular people or organization. There are thousands, maybe even millions of cultures on the earth. Music cultures, racial cultures. As we live on the earth we even live according to different cultures. We were all born into a culture, the culture of sin. When we entered the earth, the world met us. We came into what God created (earth) and began living in what Adam created (the world). What is the difference between the earth and the world? The earth was created without sin and darkness. The world is now full of sin and darkness.

The earth was created perfectly. No sin, no judgment, no punishment. It was a perfect utopia; an atmosphere of perfection. When Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin was released into the earth creating a culture of sin. Sin is disobedience to the instruction of the Lord. Adam was instructed not to eat of the fruit; he did, and it released sin and death into the earth (Genesis 2:15-17).

Because of this release, because of this culture shock to the earth, we were born into a world, a system, and a culture of sin. Sin met us out of our mother’s womb. Sin met us, waiting to encapsulate us; waiting to weaken our faith and our willingness to obey God. This culture taught us how to disobey God without remorse or regret. This culture taught us to live by lies told by others and ourselves. This culture portrayed false appearances. We were taught to covet what others had, to try and be other people and live to gratify self while ignoring others. This culture is consumed with a false sense of love, not true, pure, and perfected love.

According to the Word, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). What that means is that every person in the world has sinned. Every person has done something that was not pleasing in the eyesight of the Lord. We have said something that was not pleasing to the ear-gate of the Lord. However, God has a plan to exchange the culture of sin for the culture of His kingdom. Sin is the culture of the world. We are in the world, but not of the world. We must be delivered from the dominion of this culture.

The Culture of Egypt

The children of Israel were in captivity. They were slaves to Pharaoh and Egyptian rule. The children of Israel were under the dominion of the Egyptian culture. The culture enslaved them for over 400 years. Egyptian taskmasters dealt harshly with the Israelites (Exodus 1:11). The more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied. They continued to grow in number and it was confounding to their masters. Even in the midst of captivity and slavery, God had a plan for the freedom of the children of Israel.

Pharaoh enacted a law that all of the newborn males of the children of Israel should be killed (Exodus 1:16). Although Pharaoh made this law, the midwives feared the Lord and would not kill the newborn sons. During this time a man of the tribe of Levi, married a woman who conceived a son. This son was seen as a goodly child, so she hid him for three months. After three months, she made an ark and sent him down the river. The ark reached the palace of Pharaoh and his sister found it. Inside it was Moses, the prophet assigned of God to deliver the children of Israel from bondage. Moses was raised in the palace in a culture of Egyptian royalty. He did not know the slavery of his native people. However, God’s plan did not require him to know the labor of the children of Israel, but to be obedient to His instruction.

Time passed. Moses had personal experiences and trainings with the Lord. He was given specific instructions on what to say to Pharaoh and even what Pharaoh’s responses would be. Moses was obedient over and over again. And, because of the obedience of Moses, the people were delivered. They fled Egypt miraculously. They experienced the parting of the Red Sea for their deliverance. They saw the Egyptians drowned by the same sea that was parted for them. In the midst of their journey to the Promised Land, the Lord speaks to Moses about the tabernacle. The full story of the exodus of the children of Israel can be found in the Book of Exodus.

One of the reasons God instructed Moses to construct the tabernacle and gave him the blueprints was so that the culture of the people might change. The children of Israel had been in bondage for 400 years. They had been slaves to Pharaoh and Egyptian rule, and were subjected to hard labor. The Bible says in the book of Exodus that Pharaoh said:

Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Exodus 1:10

It was an enslavement to keep them from becoming victorious. The mindset and the culture of the Israelites was that of bondage. That is the same as the culture of sin; sin keeps us in bondage. It binds us to false things. Sin binds us to sickness and disease. It binds us to