A Place for God's Presence

I have to apologize guys because I feel like I let you all down this week. I racked my brain all week to try and think of some sort of illustration or visual aid that would be memorable and impactful as we look today at the design and purpose of the Tabernacle, the tent where God’s presence dwelt among His people... and I just couldn’t think of one. So I guess we will just have to do without today as nothing came to mind...

I did want to thank you for allowing me to air out my tent in here as we get ready for the camping season, it’s hard to air things out with all the snow we have had and all. For anyone listening online, (yes you can go online and listen to past sermons), but if you are listening to this online I am joking because in the middle of the seating I have erected a tent.

Just kidding, obviously the tent that I set up in the middle of our seating is an intentional interruption to what you are used to here on Sunday Mornings. More that that, it is a display of what it is that God wants to do in our lives. He created us in order that He might be able to dwell with us. Did you know that? He wants to be with us, that is has alway been a part of his plan. He did not create this world and then just get it spinning and leave it off to see how everything worked out. He created this world that He might display His creativity and then bask in the glory of it.

Especially the pinnacle of His creation: His relationship with mankind. Male and Female. Adam and Eve. You and me. This truth sets up a principle element of the message of the Gospel. We have been separated from the relationship with God that He himself desires to have with us.

Our sin has separated us from God, and God is not “ok” with that.

Listen to how drastically the relationship between God and our first parents changed at the point when sin entered the equation:

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,...”

This is what the typical day looked like in the garden of Eden before the effects of sin took root. It was such a familiar sound to hear the LORD God (YHWY) walking in the garden that Adam and Eve recognized it right away. God dwelt with His creation. He personally interacted with Adam and Eve. Face to Face! He Talked with them like they would talk with each other. Can you imagine having a relationship with God like that? Walking and talking with God in such a pure, perfect and personal way?

God doesn’t have to imagine it. He knows what it is like, because He designed it that way. He created it to always be the way that it began. And in His perfect knowledge He knew that for this relationship to be truly “good” it had to involve the freedom of a choice.

A choice of trust. To trust that the best way to be the created creatures that we are is to head the word of the creator.

A choice of faith. To have faith that God is who He says He is and that we are who He has said we are.

A choice of love. To reflect the love that God has shown us is giving us this life and world that He created and then best of all to give us His own attention in it.

He also created it to be corruptible. A true love relationship always involves choice. In order for the “very good” to be “very good” it had to have the presence of a choice of trust in the God who said that everything was “good”. So there was only one commandment, that is all that was needed. One choice that would prove that we trusted God to be who He says that He is. But our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed that one command and sin entered our world.

Part of the beauty of this relationship that God wants with us is that it involves choice. And in the beginning there was only one commandment, there was only one place that we could chose something other than God. That is all that was needed. One choice that would prove that we trusted God to be who He says that He is. But our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed that one command and the separation of sin entered our world.

Back to , And we all went from the pure, perfect and personal relationship that God intended where: “the Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day,” to the distant, cold, and fear filledl relationship that we see in the second half of this verse “the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

We were created to dwell in the PRESENCE of the Lord, and now we are hiding from it.

As I said before, the good news of the Gospel message is that God is not OK with this. The idea that his glorious creation would hide from His very presence, pains Him. He created us for a love relationship with Him and He has always been about fulfilling His perfect plan to return us to the glory of the relationship. He has always been working to get us back to that pure, perfect and personal relationship that we once had in the Garden of Eden.

He wants to dwell with us. He wants to dwell among us. He wants to be in the center of our community and in the center of our daily life. And there are few other places in the Bible where this is so richly represented then the text we are going to look at today. For in the design and purpose of the tabernacle we find so many connections back to the garden of Eden, back to the time when God dwelt with His people.

The blue prints for the Tabernacle were not reflective of the style and design of the day. You would not have found them highlighted on HGTV, that was not the point. They were symbolic and intentional, pointing us back to the Garden of Eden. Why the garden of Eden? Because that is where God is always working to get back to. He is working out His perfect plan to bring His people back to the kind of relationship where He again will dwell with us.

They were meant to draw our hearts and minds back to the garden of Eden where humanity had a relationship with God that was pure, perfect and personal.

God’s presence was not cold, distant and fearful. To draw us back to our created purpose. To draw us back to a longing to once again be in a right relationship with God.

Tension

But wait a minute, didn’t we cover the garden of Eden forever ago? Isn’t that how we started this Gospel Project way back in September of last year. It is, and God continues to be after the same thing: To dwell with His people in a pure, perfect and personal way.

It would be nice to be able to say that we learned from our mistakes in the Garden of Eden. That ever since that point things have just been getting better and better…but that is not the story we have been reading is it? Truth is, that is not the story we have been living either. Without God supernaturally interceding in our lives we will always take steps away from that relationship, never towards is.

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans

Not a very hope-filled verse is it? That is exactly my point. There is no hope of returning to that relationship with God if we are depending on ourselves. When it comes to returning to a pure, perfect and personal relationship with God we are “worthless”. If it were up to us, there would be no hope. We would remain forever separated from God.

That is what makes God’s desire to dwell with us such a glorious gift! Our only hope of returning to a personal relationship with God, like we had in the garden of Eden, Has to come from His side. We can not get there on our own. We cannot work for it. We cannot earn it. We need God to give it to us. It is not something that we can earn. It is “Unmerited Favor”.

The building of the Tabernacle is a wonderful picture of God’s grace. A picture of how God remains faithful to His own desire to return to that relationship that we once had with Him, even though we are “worthless” when it comes to accomplishing this on our own.

That gift of unmerited favor is what we call God’s “Grace”, and the building of the Tabernacle is a wonderful picture of God’s grace. A picture of how God remains faithful to His own desire to return to that relationship that we once had with Him, even though we are “worthless” when it comes to accomplishing this on our own.

The building of the Tabernacle is a wonderful picture of God’s grace. Remember what had just happened. From the mountain of God the people heard and saw God’s power as he directly gave them the 10 commandments and they could not take it. They begged Moses to go up and talk to God because they could not stand to hear his voice again. It was just too powerful. So Moses did. For 40 days Moses was up on the mountain getting the law from God and the people got impatient. They decided to ignore what God had told them about how to be right with him, the 10 commandments, and make YHWY into something more familiar. Something more manageable. So God All of them

Remember what had just happened. In the first half of the book of Exodus we saw how God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and led them to His holy mountain. Then He gave them the 10 commandments, and Moses went up to get the rest of the Law. While Moses was gone, the people were already disobeying the 10 commandments. Specifically they were disobeying the first three commandments that had to do with having a relationship with God.

They made an Idol and started calling the Idol, “YHWY” as if any blessings could ever come from a shiny hunk of metal. But they were not interested in God as He had revealed himself, they wanted a more “user friendly” version.

Moses of course was on the mountain meeting with God when all this happened so God had to tell Moses about all they were doing. Along with the report of their sin, God told Moses that He was ready to just wipe them all out and start over with just Moses. Then this mysterious conversation happens between Moses and God where Moses pleads with the LORD to have mercy, not because the people deserved it, but because it would reflect so poorly on the name of the LORD if he just wiped them all out. And the text says that “God relented”. How all that works with a Sovereign God is something I cannot say I completely understand, but that is what the Bible says.

The

Moses of course was on the mountain, oblivious to all of this, until God told Him about it. God told Moses how He was ready to just wipe them all out, they are “stiff-necked” people and God was ready to start again with just Moses. But Moses pleaded with Him to have mercy, not because the people were worth it, but because it would reflect so poorly on the name of YHWY. So God relented and Moses came down the mountain. He saw the people were completely out of control, He broke the tablets and called from the gate of the camp, “Who is on the LORD’s side, Come to Me” and only one tribe came to him. So Moses gives them God’s orders to strap on a sword and move through out the camp and start executing every man you meet. After 3,000 men were killed, finally the people settled down. And then we find the verse we ended with last week.

this morning series where we are looking at these first books of the Bible through thThe truth is that we are going to finish the book if Exodus this morning have traveled pretty far from haven’t we? We So this is our very last week in the book of Exodus

Romans 5:8 ESV

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But Moses pleaded with Him to have mercy, not because the people were worth it, but because it would reflect so poorly on the name of YHWY. So God relented and Moses came down the mountain. He saw the people were completely out of control, He broke the tablets and called from the gate of the camp, “Who is on the LORD’s side, Come to Me” and only one tribe came to him. So Moses gives them God’s orders to strap on a sword and move through out the camp and start executing every man you meet. After 3,000 men were killed, finally the people settled down. And then we find the verse we ended with last week.

So YHWY relents and Moses comes down the mountain to find the people completely... out... of ...control. He brakes the tablets of God’s law to symbolically demonstrate how the people were breaking God’s Law and it had little effect. Then he stands at the gate of the camp and in calls out in effect to say, “If there is anyone who still wants to be right with God, Come stand with me!” Only one family comes to him. And this is the part that rarely makes it into the children’s Bible story books - understandably so - because the next thing that he does is tell this one family to strap on a swords and move through out the camp and start executing every man you meet. After 3,000 men were killed, finally the people settled down.

Then he stands at the gate of the camp and in calls out in effect to say, “If there is anyone who still wants to be right with God, Come stand with me!” Only one family comes to him. And this is the part that rarely makes it into the children’s Bible story books - understandably so - because the next thing that he does is tell this one family to strap on a swords and move through out the camp and start executing every man you meet. After 3,000 men were killed, finally the people settled down.

It is after this that we find the verse we ended with last week.

Then he calls out to those who are still on the side of the One True God

So Moses calls out from the gate of the camp, “Who is on the LORD’s side, Come to Me” and only one tribe came to him. So Moses gave them God’s instructions to strap on a sword and go through out the camp and start executing every man you meet. After 3,000 men were killed, finally the people settled down. And then we find the verse we ended with last week.

Exodus 32:30 ESV

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

Exodus

Moses was hoping to make “Atonement” or “At-One-ment”. He was hoping that He could offer something to God that would reinstate their relationship again.

We see in the ancient mediator Moses a reflection of the heart of our mediator Jesus. Even more so as we keep reading because Moses offers to exchange his place in the presences of YHWY for the forgiveness of the people. “blot my name out of your book LORD, just forgive your people”. It was a noble offer, but even Moses doesn’t have what Jesus does. Moses’ righteousness was so much greater than the Children of Israel at this point, but it was still not sufficient to cover their sins. Only the pure and perfect righteousness of Jesus can make us “At-One” with God again.

So God shows the Israelites both His righteous judgement and His loving Mercy. He judged those who would not repent with a plague, but He showed His mercy to the rest by not wiping out the whole people and starting over again.

Exodus 32:33–35 ESV

33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” 35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Remember God’s promise shortly after they left Egypt:

Exodus 32:

Exodus 15:26 ESV

26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

But the people did keep the commandments of the Lord.

They were “stiff-necked”.

No one was righteous.

No one sought God.

And God sent a plague on His own people.

?????????plague was both justice and mercy - He didn’t kill them or the plan, only delayed it!

So the question that looms over this rebellious people is what will this holy and just God do next. What will He do with His corrupted and rebellious people. The text says that Moses found favor in the eyes of the LORD, but it appears as if God has had enough with these stubborn people. Listen to his next instructions that God gave Moses at the beginning of Chapter 33:

Exodus 33:1–3a ESV

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Exodus 33:1

God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac an Jacob and He always keeps His promises. So they were to continue on their way the land God promised their forefathers. God will send an angel to clear the path for them, but ...He would not dwell with them as before.

Exodus 33:1–4 ESV

Exodus 33:1-

Exodus 33:3 ESV

3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

The God who desires to dwell with His people would not go with them, because they are “stiff-necked”, they have hearts that are set on disobedience, and God knows that if they continue together like this then He will destroy them. It is hard to say what exactly got the attention of the people at this point.

Was it the fearful memory of how God destroyed the Egyptians that came to mind?

Was it the more recent memory of how he judged His own people with the plague or the killing of 3,000 with the sword?

Or was it the weight of the idea of moving forward without their God who had moved in such miraculous ways to provide for them and protect them?

God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac an Jacob and He always keeps His promises. So they were to continue on their way and God even said that He would send an angel to clear the path for them, but He would not dwell with them as before. He would not

I imagine it was some combination of all three, but there is a level of heart change displayed in the peoples response:

We dThis seems to have gotten the attention of the people. They recognized that without YHWY they were lost. Listen to the response to this in the very next verse.

Exodus 33:4 ESV

4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.

This attitude of repentance is not a sign of perfection, but it is a sign of progress in the right direction. Even Moses sees the lack of God’s presence as an impossible situation and he pleads once again to the Lord:

And Moses returns to the mountain of God for a new set of tablets, and Moses cries out to God:

Exodus 33:15 ESV

15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

In fact, if we look back a few chapters where it lists out all the law that God was giving Moses, while the Israelites were down corrupting themselves, it says in

Exodus and when He returns, we see God’s grace as He allows the people to participate in building him a place for His Presence to dwell among them. Because that was always his desire. He had already given Moses this command before the people sinned:

Moses knows that their is no hope for his leading these people anywhere if the LORD isn’t in it. And so we see the Grace of God as He promises that His presence will once again go with them. So Moses returns to the mountain and gets a new set of tablets with the law written on them and returns to instruct the people with them. One of the elements of this Law was the opportunity to build a dwelling place for the Lord.

Exodus 25:8 ESV

8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

Why? Because this is still what God wants. To dwell in the midst of His people. To dwell in the center of our lives. To return to having the pure, perfect and personal relationship that we began with.

?????G

Is that the role that He has in your life?

That is really the question that the building of the Tabernacle will help us answer today. If God is always working to restore this pure, perfect and personal relationship with us, then what evidence is there in our lives that this is happening?

Is that the role that He has in the life of our Church?

As we look deeper into the process and blue prints for building the Tabernacle, I believe we will uncover some keys to understanding How God is working out his plan to return to a pure, perfect and personal relationship with us.

If you haven’t already, turn in your Bibles to Exodus Chapter 36 (p. 76), let’s stop for a moment and pray, then we will continue into the text seeking to learn how God is at working to restore our relationship with Him.

and we will look into this text together.

Truth

Genesis 3:8 ESV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:

Genesis 5:22 ESV

22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 6:9 ESV

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

Genesis 17:1 ESV

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,

Our first theme for this week is that:

Genesis

Exodus 25:8 ESV

8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

Ephesians 2:21–22 ESV

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Genesis

Ezekiel 37:26–27 ESV

26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Ezekial 37:26-27

Matthew 23:38 ESV

38 See, your house is left to you desolate.

temple is not “Your house” no longer inhabited by God’s presesnce - curtain was torn in two - no more separation.

The promise to Abraham was to make his descendents into a people, give them a place and make them a blessing to themselves and others by God’s Presence!

1. God provides the resources for the tabernacle by moving in the hearts of His People ()

Exodus

Exodus 36:1–7 ESV

1 “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.” 2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

Exodus 36:2–7 ESV

2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. 3 And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” 6 So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, 7 for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more.

Exodus 36:1-7

Let me give us a little bit of background here. The first time that Moses went up the mountain God gave him the names of these two guys and He said that He has given these men skills in order that they might be able to build the Tabernacle, and teach others to do the same. I think that is so cool.

Exodus 31:3 ESV

3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,

Exodus 31:3–5 ESV

3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.

[grunt]

Too often we limit the effects of being “Filled with the Spirit of God” to singing like an angel or praying for hours on end, and certainly the Spirit of God can lead people in those directions. But here God says that He also fills men with His Spirit and sends them out to the wood shop! Many of us guys can get behind that can’t we. The Spirit of God can be seen in a flurry of sawdust!

…Saws…hammers…welding…Sawdust…grunt, grunt grunt.

As we look around creation we see how God is a creative creator. He could of just created everything in a more utilitarian way, but he didn’t. He made things beautiful and intricate to instill wonder, curiosity and such awe in us that we would seek to be creative too. That is a part of being made in God’s image. The only question is, are we using our creative talents for God’s glory or for our own? These men were not only constructing an elaborate and intricate dwelling place for the Presence of the Lord, the Spirit of God was moving in them to teach others how to do the same. So there was a whole team of people working together in the construction of the Physical Tabernacle.

not whether or no in usand He that is one of the ways in which we are made in His image. So when God’s Spirit is in work in us then creativity comes out in so many different forms. And when our hearts are right with God, then He shows us how we can use those creative gifts for His glory. And the text says that God not only gave these men the ability to do these many things, He also gave them the ability to teach others how to do them as well. So there was a whole team of people working together in the construction of the Physical Tabernacle.

Not only were their people who were gifted to get after the craftsmanship of the Tabernacle, there were people who God had moved in their hearts to generously provide for the materials needed to build it. And HOW they gave! Have you ever heard of something like this?

This is the kind of problem that I want to have here at Friendship Church. That the work of the ministry is actually being hindered not by sin and selfishness, but because everyone keeps wanting to help! Did you see this, How awesome! Each of the workers had to stop their work in order to go see Moses about too much help! I would love this problem!

Have you ever heard of something like this? That people were so moved to give to the work of the Spirit of God that the workers had to ask the people to stop. You have provided more than we need are did they ever give. Did you catch that? Those who were actively working in the Spirit to build this dwelling place for God had to come to Moses to ask Him to get the people to

had to ask the people to stop. You have provided more than we need are did they ever give. Did you catch that? Those who were actively working in the Spirit to build this dwelling place for God had to come to Moses to ask Him to get the people to

“We have more than enough to do the work that God has called us to, you can stop giving now!”

Oh how the LORD had moved in these peoples hearts. Where they once were giving of their finances to fund something that the LORD condemned, they are not going above and beyond to fund something the LORD commissioned: A dwelling place for His presence.

1. God provides the resources for the tabernacle by moving in the hearts of His People ()

Remember, these are the same people who had given of their finances to fund something that the LORD condemned: The “golden calf”. So now that the LORD has asked them to contribute something for Him they couldn’t give enough!

1. God provides the resources for the tabernacle (a place where He will dwell) by moving in the hearts of His People ()

2. God builds the tabernacle through the obedience of His People ()

Some of us are detail people and some of us are…well we are just not. For those of us who are in the “not” category, we probably have a hard appreciating Bible passages like this that are full of the specific measurements, material lists and the layouts of things. This is especially hard for you here in the book of Exodus, because we find virtually the same detailed list given to us twice! Aghhh! Your killing me, here!

Aghhh! Your killing me, here!

Well there is an important reason for the inclusion of these two almost identical lists of details. If we were to zoom out away from all the details then we would find that Chapters 25-30 give us the details of the law as God gave them to Moses on the mountain. Then in chapters 35 - 40 we have the details given again but this time they are given as the people of Israel accomplished each one. It is an elaborate check off list that points us to one over arching truth:

The People obey God!

God said do it exactly like this. Then the people actually did it exactly like God said!

We have an accGod said do it exactly like this. Then the people did it exactly like that. This never happens

God said do it exactly like this. Then the people did it exactly like God said! Even the “detail not” people can here the significance of this. Every time God said build it this long, they did. Every time God said make it of this material, they did. Every time God said make it this color, they did. It was probably the longest list of obedience that the

people were putting God’s instructions into place. If you were just thumbing through the book of Exodus you might think that the editors missed something, but we all know better don’t we.

We should stand in awe every time we find something in chapters 35-39 that played out exactly as it was commanded in 21-31. The fact that the people did exactly as God has commanded is evidence of their hearts being rightly influenced by the LORD. Sometimes the details really matter.

Exodus 39:42–43 ESV

42 According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. 43 And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.

Every time God said build it this long, we can read how they did.

Every time God said make it of this material, we can read how they did

Every time God said make it exactly this color, we can read how they did.

The detail we find here should bring us to celebrate as this is the longest run of obedience that the Israelites have had so far! Praise God, it can be done. And even Moses recognizes this obedience...

Exodus 39:42–43 ESV

1. God moved in their hearts

2. God worked through them in their obedience

builds the tabernacle through the obedience of His People ()

3. God fills the tabernacle with His presence ()

2. God builds the tabernacle through the obedience of His People ()

If you are one of those detail people, then as you read through the blue print for the tabernacle you might have picked up on some of the symbolism that points to the Garden of Eden.

Some of these symbols include:

The entrance of the Tabernacle was always facing east, as it was in the garden of Eden

Both the entrance of the Tabernacle and the ark of the covenant are guarded by two angels, like the angels GOd left to guard the garden when Adam and Eve were banished.

The walls were decorated with many fruits and palm trees, just as there were in the garden of Eden

The walls were decorated with many fruits and palm trees, just as there would be in a garden like Eden

The many branches of the lampstand reach out in such a way to represent a tree giving life, like the tree of life in the garden of Eden.

The tablets of God’s law were kept in the very holy place, pointing to the tree of knowledge.

and maybe you thought of even more, but even with all of these symbolic items in place there was still something missing. The most important part of the Garden of Eden was that God dwelt there among the people, and that is the most important part of the Tabernacle as well.

The tabernacle, like the garden of Eden, is where God dwells, and various details of the tabernacle suggest it is a mini-Eden. These parallels include the east-facing entrance guarded by cherubim, the gold, the tree of life (lampstand), and the tree of knowledge (the law). Thus God’s dwelling in the tabernacle was a step toward the restoration of paradise, which is to be completed in the new heaven and earth ().

Exodus 40:34–38 ESV

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

The other symbolic dimension is Eden. The tabernacle, like the garden of Eden, is where God dwells, and various details of the tabernacle suggest it is a mini-Eden. These parallels include the east-facing entrance guarded by cherubim, the gold, the tree of life (lampstand), and the tree of knowledge (the law). Thus God’s dwelling in the tabernacle was a step toward the restoration of paradise, which is to be completed in the new heaven and earth ().

The Israelites were able to visually see that the Presence of God was with them. A cloud by day and fire by night showed them that God dwelt in their midst. Even the camp was set up so that every tent was facing the Tabernacle to make each person aware that the LORD YHWY was dwelling in their midst. With the descending of the cloud, the question of whether or not God would dwell with His people was answered. He will dwell with them.

And how did the LORD provide for this?

He moved in the hearts of His people

He worked through His people as they obeyed Him

He sent them His Presence

1. God provides the resources for the tabernacle by moving in the hearts of His People ()

2. God builds the tabernacle through the obedience of His People ()

3. God fills the tabernacle with His presence ()

Gospel Application

With the end of the Book of Exodus a significant question has been answered. God will continue to dwell amongst His people. But there is also a significant question that was introduced. I read through that last group of verses pretty quickly, so lets go back and look at verse 35 again.

Exodus 40:35 ESV

35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Exodus

Moses, the leader of the people.

That ancient mediator who pleaded with God until God somehow relented.

The one who was will to exchange his own favor with God for the forgiveness of God’s people.

The Man who met “face to face” with God so much so that his face radiated.

When the people had obeyed God to the last minute detail, and the entire Tabernacle was assembled in just the right way and the presence of the Lord descended in the cloud, Moses went to meet with God like he had twice before on the mountain…and He could not.

Moses’ righteousness and favor before God stood out among the other Israelites, but even Moses could not come into this Holy place without some steps being taken to make him holy. God’s people are heading in the right direction, but God’s perfect plan to restore His relationship with Mankind as it was in the Garden of Eden is not complete yet. We see this picture clearly in the angels that were woven into the fabric of the curtain that separates us from the holy presence of the LORD. At this point, the way back to the Garden of Eden is still blocked. There is more that is required, there is a payment that must be made.

For the Israelites of the Old Testament and the first covenant, this payment came in the form of a sacrificial system where they had to regularly and repeatedly sacrifice the life of an animal for the forgiveness of their sins. Even then, only the High Priest could enter into the inner sanctuary, and that only once a year. The next book of the Bible, Leviticus, is all about this system of sacrifice and ritual. So the LORD did dwell with His people, but it was not like it was in the Garden of Eden. It was not the pure, perfect and personal relationship that God originally designed us to exist in. It was burdensome and it lead God’s people into a legalistic relationship with God, instead of the loving one that God intended.

But because we are New Covenant People, the payment for our sin has already be made. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9 (p 1005) and listen to how the author of Hebrews brilliantly connects the work of the Tabernacle and the even greater work of Jesus Christ:

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And that is what the next book of the Bible is all about. The book of Leviticus lays for the people all the things necesary for someone to approach the glory of God. , which we will cover next week is all about what it takes for a person who is sinful to become holy in God’s sight and all of it hinges on the shedding of blood. There was a particular group of people who were set aside to be holy in role and behavior and these priests would be given the function of shedding the blood of animals in certain ways and at certain times that the requirements of God’s perfect law would be recognized. But these practices were only temporary place holders for something much greater that is to come.

Hebrews chapter 9 captures both of these systems so brilliantly that I wanted to read several verses from there for us in closing this morning, let me encourage you to turn over to it. (p. 1005)

in such a way that they alone could go into the tent, and only at certain times and in certain ways.

These things are so

as if He was entering into any other structure. There had to be

God moves in our hearts

God leads us to obedience

God dwells in us.

Hebrews 9:1–12 ESV

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:1-

Moses could not lead God’s people into the presence of God, he did not have what it takes. The sacrifice of animals by the Priests of the Tabernacle was only sufficient to bridge the gap for a short time, and the perfect presence of God was still guarded by the angels of the curtain. But when Jesus Christ became the sacrifice for our sin, it was so pure, so perfect, so personal that it was sufficient to pay for the sins of everyone of the people that our Creator has made.

Gospel Application

Moses was not righteous enough to enter itno toMoses could not lead God’s people into the presence of God, but Jesus could and Jesus Did. The Temple, which was build in likeness of the Tabernacle also housed the presence of God and at the moment when Jesus Died the Bible says that the curtain was torn from top to bottom.

The Tabernacle was not around when Jesus was on earth, instead God’s presence dwelt in the more permanent structure called the Temple. And when Jesus died on the cross the Bible tells us that the curtain, the one with the guardian angels woven into it, tore in two from the top to the bottom. What a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done for us. How He alone could make a way for us to return to that pure, perfect and personal relationship again. And He has done it.

We can see this most vividly in

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This is the restoration of the Garden of Eden. This is the pure, perfect and personal relationship with the LORD that He has always wanted.

Landing

Do you have a personal relationship with God through the saving work of Jesus Christ. If not then what are your trusting in for your eternity? God placed questions like this in our hearts and minds to draw us to Him. You either have to answer them or ignore them, but at the end of your life you are still responsible for them. God has taken care of His side.

If you would say that you do have a personal relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ then let me leave you with these instructions from the Lord:

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

This is our message to share, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has made for us a way back to the pure, perfect and personal relationship with Him that He has always wanted.

, and He has a made to restore thi

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

σκηνόω “skenoo” to take up residents, dwell

Ephesians 2:21–22 ESV

21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 37:26–27 ESV

Matthew 23:38 ESV

38 See, your house is left to you desolate.

temple is not “Your house” no longer inhabited by God’s presesnce - curtain was torn in two - no more separation.

2 Corinthians 6:16–7:1 ESV

16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

2 Cor 6:16-

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

1 Cor 3:`7-17

Landing

Related Media

Related Sermons