Exodus 25:1-40
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Exodus 25:1-40
Exodus 25:1-40
Next week, we’re going to meet here for some worship time, then we’ll head over to the new building. I’d like you all to have a chance to walk thru, pray if you’d like, and see what we have/what we need.
Last week, we discussed the 3 major feasts of the people of Israel, and The Lord spoke about an angel He would send before His people, providing a way for them to enter the land they were promised. Do you remember how big the land was supposed to be? From the Red Sea to the sea Philistia, which is the Mediterranean sea. And from the desert to the River. That river isn’t the Jordan river, as is the current borders, but it’s the Euphrates river, which is thru Saudi Arabia today, and halfway into Iraq. Current day Israel is about the size of New Jersey. The Promised Land is equivalent of about the size of Texas. God had a BIG PLAN for Israel. All they would have to do is go and take it. They would never fully realize all of it though, would they? No.
That messenger sent before Israel was what we call a Christophany, a representation of Jesus in the Old Testament. God will keep telling His people thruout the OT: “I tell you these things so you recognize me when I come for you.” These people were to be lead in a way they know not how, by a messenger they know not who, to a place they know not where. Everything would be new to them, and they would need a sign from God to settle their hearts.
God had given Moses instruction on the mountain, then sent him back down to the people to write down what He was told and teach it to His people. Then, he was to make an altar, with 12 pillars as witnesses and call the men to him to teach them to provide sacrifices. As Moses read the Word to the people, Sacrificed the animals, and then took the blood, in front of the people, and poured half of the blood on the altar, representing the blood to be spilled by our Lord Jesus to redeem us, and then sprinkled on the people representing the blood applied to seal the covenant.
Kids, what does redeem mean? What does it mean to redeem something?
Just as Jesus’ blood would be poured out for us, redeeming us, purchasing us from the penalty of our sins, as long as the blood is applied to our lives. That happens by us accepting the free gift of Eternal Life because of that sacrifice. Grace upon our lives was purchased at a cost, and it wasn’t cheap. It was costly. It cost a King His Blood. We need to remember that.
Moses went back up the mountain, he brought the elders near and had fellowship with the Lord. Then Moses left Aaron, Hur, Nadab and Abihu in charge of the people, as he and Joshua went up the mountain to get more from the Lord. What could possibly go wrong there, right?
What does Joshua mean again? Jehovah is Salvation. That name, for that man of courage, will allow him to fulfill what Moses won’t be able to at the end of the wilderness time.
Today, we’re going to talk a bit about the offerings, the Ark of the Testimony, the Table of Showbread, and the Gold Lampstand. The first 3 things to be made by the people of Israel so they can worship Yahweh, their God. We’ll see here, how these all point directly to Jesus as we go thru. This is where the Bible becomes so interesting to me...because it’s so nuanced until you see it, then you can’t unsee it. Let’s get started today:
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.
First things first. The Law has been given to Moses, and written, right? Now, God is going to spend these next 6 chapters setting up how His people will worship Him. First, however, he requests an offering. It’s not a demand, is it? Look carefully at the words used. From everyone who gives it willingly. What does that mean? God wants us to be willing participants in His worship. Not compelled or forced. Give out of the condition of your heart.
The Lord won’t force you to worship Him. He wants us to do it because there is value in it. God is a good father, and he has blessings set aside for us, to unlock those blessings, it means we need to get involved in the things God finds important. The heart of the person doing the work. If your heart is rotten when you give, your rewards might be rotten too.
Here’s the thing, you may not be giving in this life to receive that reward here. It may not be until you get to Heaven that you find out what impact your generosity was on people. Here, God is saying, let’s do a heart check. These people whom I have just delivered, should be interested in the amazing things I have in store for them...and they were just blessed with some things a few weeks ago that I sent them with for this very reason.
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, 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.
The Lord says: remember when you left Egypt? The people gave gifts to you. They weren’t “going away presents.” They were more like “take this and don’t come back” presents, weren’t they? God told Moses the people would be blessed with great riches. They would serve an eternal purpose as a reminder of how much God loves His people.
They were given a lot of stuff. How much stuff were they sent with? In today’s funds, scholars say about 13 million dollars worth of goods. Around 9 tons in weight. This would be the first church building project, and it wasn’t going to be a cheap one, would it? The Lord doesn’t spare expense, though, when He wants to send a message.
And remember, this is not just the wealth of the Israelites. This is the wealth of this world that the Lord can use too. Remember, God wants us to be a willing part of His plan. If we come alongside Him, He will come alongside us. Not monetarily, He can like that, but you’ll reap a spiritual harvest that will not fade away. There is a project ahead for that offering. You might not know what it’s going to be used for, but if you understand the Kingdom you’re investing in, some day you’ll find out the significance.
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, 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 Lord is clear, He wants to dwell with His people. As we go thru these things, it can sometimes be hard to comprehend what they could look like. That’s the beauty of books, right? You exercise your brain and get to expand your mind.
Kids, do you like books? How many of you like reading books without pictures in them? Adult kids? How many of you like to do that? NOW, in light of that, if I said “The hero rode off into the sunset on his horse.” What does the sunset look like? I’ll probably get 30 different answers, right? Even if I do an excellent job of explaining what I’m seeing in my head, right?
Do you think God is just going to tell Moses what these things are going to look like? We’re going to get lots of ideas of what these things look like, the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Show Bread, and the Lampstand. We’re going to talk a bit today about what they look like, but more importantly what they represent and how they point to Jesus, but it’s important to us to know, Moses wasn’t going off just what God told him.
Verse 9 says “According to all that I show you...” What does He say right after that, the “pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all it’s furnishings.” The word pattern can also be translated as “model.” God doesn’t just tell Moses what it’s supposed to look like, He showed Moses, modeled it for him, so it would be made exactly as He was supposed to.
First up, and most important, 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.
Why is the Ark first? You’d think God would say “Here is a picture of what it should look like, finished.” Right? Why did God start describing what Moses was to make with the Ark of the Covenant first? What is the first thing you do when you’re making a building? You build the foundation first, right? The Ark of the Covenant is the foundation of the Tabernacle. This 4’x2’ box is the foundation.
This little box is made out of acacia wood, what does an acacia tree look like?
It’s a pretty cool looking tree, huh? What do the branches look like?
See these branches here? Acacia trees are full of these dangerous big thorns. What does that remind you of? The crown of thorns that was twisted together and crushed onto our Savior’s head, right? It harkens back to Genesis 3 and the curse of man too. The thorns and thistles are to make our work tilling the land that much harder for us.
So, the Acacia wood would be what it’s made out of, and what is the inside AND outside covered with? Gold, right? Gold represents the diety of God. So, think about that. Jesus was fully man, and fully God, right? The wooden core of the Ark represented man. The Gold overlay of the Ark represented God.
Anyone else think this is pretty cool? Just wait:
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.
4 rings, 2 poles. What is the core of each pole? Acacia wood, what does that represent? Man. Overlayed with Gold, what does that represent? God, right? These poles are in these rings...and they’re never to be removed from the ark. They are a part of the ark, but not really a part of the ark.
What are they used for? Carrying the Ark with them, right? Is the Ark to be carried around on a cart? No, How about oxen, this thing is going to be heavy. No. Who’s supposed to carry this beautiful master crafted box around? PEOPLE. God wants HIS PEOPLE to CARRY HIM with them wherever they go.
Who is supposed to carry the Ark around? The priests, right? They were special people, weren’t they? In Revelation 1, we read this:
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
His COSTLY Blood made us all kings and priests, worthy to carry a representation of Him around everywhere with us. That’s pretty amazing...BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE:
16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
What goes into the Ark first? The 10 commandments, later on, we’ll find there are 2 other things that go in, but first the commandments. To be hidden inside, just like they would be hidden, written on our hearts, unlike tablets of stone but now on tablets of flesh, as Paul will say.
The Law was given to do what? To prove we need a savior. God is now taking those commandments and saying: I will keep the commandments, so you can carry Me with you. I will never leave you or forsake you.
Now for the lid of the Ark:
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.
Now, the mercy seat was a covering for the Ark. The Hebrew word is kapporeth, which means place of atonement. Yom Kippur is another use of the word we could recognize today. It is a Jewish holiday which means day of atonement. Atonement means to be forgiven, to make right with someone else. At one ment is the easiest way to remember it. The word mercy seat comes from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew text.
If you think about it from the atonement standpoint, it makes sense. This is where the mercy of God would be manifest. This is where the mercies of God would be communicated to Moses and the High Priests.
Moses is really trying to explain to us what this would look like. We don’t know what these cherubim or angels looked like. They were the guardians of the Garden of Eden, and will be the guardians of the Throne of God in Heaven. The mercy seat would be foreshadowing to that time in Revelation. This is just a surface scratch of the significance, and we’ll get more into this as there is more revealed about the Ark of the Testimony in future chapters.
Really cool, huh? What is next? Now, onto the table of 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.
Acacia wood, with Gold again. This would be a beautiful table, God and man, again represented.
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 table is made with rings for poles to be carried by men, again. And it was to be beautifully set, as for a dinner, right? That’s what it sounds like to me. A meal is prepared here.
The showbread was consecrated bread set apart special for the Lord. Later on, we find out, how many loaves of bread will be put on the table? 12, representing the 12 tribes if Israel, right?
Why is this table important? It represents God wanting to commune with us directly. He wants that communion, that time of fellowship to be filled with the finest of things, He expects nothing less from us...and He gives us nothing less when we come to Him.
Who was supposed to eat of the showbread? The priests, right? If you are a born again believer in Christ, what are we now under God? Priests, proclaimers of the Gospel of Peace. We can have direct communion with Him. Next week, let’s take communion as a church family in our new building when we go there. Would that be OK with you guys?
Is any of this blowing any of your minds right now? God is so awesome to reveal this to us!
Now, there is one more thing God wants to make sure He gives instruction for it’s construction prior to the making of the Tabernacle. That’s 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.
No acacia wood here. Hammered gold. One piece, molded harshly into it’s beauty. I can’t imagine the craftsmanship that goes into hammering out a flower in a piece of solid gold. The care, the time, the vision you’d have to have to see that in the part you were hammering away at too. It was the hammer that brought the beauty out of the lampstand. Interesting to think of our lives...the hammering is the hardest part, then one day, we find out what that hammering and molding was for.
7 branches total, 1 in the middle, 3 on each side. This is called a menorah. The Hannukah menorah is 9 branches. It’s a little different. 7 is the number of Holy Completion. Let’s see if there are any other things that stand out to us here:
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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.
The agonizing time this would have taken to make. Flowers and almond blossoms. What do almonds mean to the Jews? It’s a symbol of renewal of life. The word almond in the Hebrew means to be watchful. Knowing that this would be the light in the Tabernacle, illuminating the table of showbread for communion. This wasn’t a big candlestick either, it had lamps on it, made to be tended to. That’s what the bowls were.
Moses saw these things he’s trying to describe to us. Beautiful, ornate...powerfully meaningful, amen? The Ark of the Covenant would be furthest back and in the center of what will be called the “Holy of Holy’s.” To the right, will be the table of showbread, and to the left, the Lampstand.
The lampstand represents the light God shines on this world. Everything is revealed to Him. There is no darkness in Him, no shadows, especially when the Temple is made, because the whole inner sanctuary will be covered in Gold reflecting the light of the lampstand.
How does the light make us feel? Kids, when you’re in a scary place, does it help to turn on the lights? Why? Because nothing is hidden anymore, right? The Lord doesn’t want us to be afraid of anything if we have Him in our heart.
The coming chapters and books are the most exciting for me. They get lost on people because it’s hard to see the meaning behind them. When you know what you’re looking for, though, and thru it all, it’s Jesus, you find out how cool it is that the Lord prepared this little treasure map for us to keep diving into and find something new every time. Not a new revelation of scripture, but it continues to mean something more and different to us every time.
The Bible is clear. From the beginning, God had a plan for this world. That means He has a vision for each one of us if we choose to follow Him. He lets us know, THIS is how much I love you. All that I ask is that you love Me back. The Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Testimony, that is the foundation of the Tabernacle. Everything else is built around that little box.
The more you are in your Bibles, the more you will see how it points us to the Jesus. To God’s love for us, and that while we were yet sinners, He made a way for those who believe, call upon His name, and live by faith in His blessings, that He is faithful and just to deliver us from the penalty of our sins. It’s all right here. In our Open My Eyes series, we’re in week 7, going thru the book of Numbers. This is where people get bogged down, 10 minutes a day about is how long it takes you to read it. Pray thru it, ask how does this point to Jesus? Is there a lesson to learn?
He gave us His word for a reason. He has made us priests and kings of this world, heralding His Gospel to our community. Be the light of the world!
