Sermon Tone Analysis

Text

Exodus is about knowing the Lord - I am that I am.

He will keep his covenant because he does not and cannot change.

He redeems his people - and through a very convoluted history, involving sin, grumbling, rebellion, forgiveness, intercession - God fulfills his covenant to be a God to Israel, and Israel will be his people.

The priests, the sacrifice, the tabernacle.

When the priests are consecrated, when the sacrifice is offered, then the glory cloud descends, and God dwells with his people.

When one entered the tabernacle, there was the sense of entering again into Eden.

The jewels and the gold and the fruit and the garden themes - and the cleansing water.

And the door facing east -

All of it pointing to God redeeming a people for himself - to dwell with them and be their god.

It means something to be the people of God, but we are not home yet.

Our sinful nature impatiently seeks security and peace from that which only God can provide.

We do not want to wait.

Israel, however, proved that they wanted to be just like all the other nations.

They continually hardened their hearts, until finally the glory cloud of God’s presence was taken away

And the faithful in Israel mourned.

God had issued his divorce decree.

I will no longer be your God.

I will no longer have mercy.

But even in this darkness, a light was shining dimly.

The promise, then - God has not forsaken his people, but the mediator of the covenant is coming.

The LORD, who will again fill his temple with glory.

That glory-cloud descended upon the church when Jesus finished his work and sat at God’s right hand.

He sanctified himself

Offered himself as the sacrifice:

As the fulfillment of

He is the priest AND the sacrifice.

In his life, up to the end, he was walking the steps of Aaron in Leviticus 39-40.

And in Acts 2, the glory cloud filled the temple of God.

Now our access to God, and his love and care for us, are not mediated by sinful, earthly priests, but by our Great High Priest, who governs us by his word and spirit.

The spirit of truth given to each one of us, as long as we abide in Christ.

By faith, we hold to him, even in this wilderness, knowing that he will direct our steps, protect us from harm, vindicate our reputations, and finally lead us into glory across the river Jordan, where every tear will be dried.

And so what does that mean now when we are outcast, dejected, despised, wounded?

The high priest wore the names of the tribes of Israel on his Ephod.

He so identified with the tribes that when he entered into the presence of God, it was as if they entered with him.

Likewise, Jesus, the priest of God, became flesh - so identifying with us that he is truly flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone.

Jesus is the head, and we are the body.

He carries us in his heart, for we are his body.

Our union with him is so close that everything he suffered, it was as if we suffered.

This is the heart of the faith - that it is as if we had suffered and done all in our own person.

But there is a flip side as well.

Since he is our head, everything that WE suffer, he suffers with us.

He feels our rejection and our suffering deeply, which is why we can call out to him no matter what we are suffering.

He is so closely united to his people, that those who harm and neglect his people harm and neglect Christ himself.

He suffers WITH us because he is our head.

As we make our way through this wilderness, he walks with us in the closest, most intimate way possible.

Nothing, then, can hinder us from reaching the end of the journey safely, where every tear will be wiped away.

He is actually walking with us - sympathizing with our infirmities and our sufferings in the most intimate way - and he carries his people in his breast into the presence of the Father.

And at the same time, he fills us with his spirit.

By his spirit, the father and the son are always present with us, but we don’t have because we don’t ask.

And we don’t ask because of pride.

We naturally think we have it covered.

And in suffering and grief we deeply feel our need - and this is when he is most present with us, if we will only ask.