Foundational Preparations Before the LORD

God will give Moses something when he reached the summit of Mount Sinai. Stone tablets with the law and the commandment, written for their [the people] instruction. Where earlier Moses had told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, which included both the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant (24:3),

Here, the wording is slightly different, referring specifically to the Ten Commandments, as Moses later said in Deuteronomy 4:13. These were the same that Moses angrily dashed to the ground on observing the worship of the golden calf, and which God graciously replaced (Exodus 34:1, 27, 28).

There were two stone tablets because Israel was given two copies. God was making a covenant with His people and as a binding, legal agreement, it needed to be written down. In that ancient time period, two copies were prepared--one for each party. God allowed Israel to keep both copies--the original and the duplicate--to remind them that they were bound to God by covenant.

“Which I have written” -- Moses did not put words in God’s mouth; these were commands received from God by Moses. The law came from God, not men.

There is in this chapter two different things about how the law was written. Exodus 24:3-4a says Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said--His “words and laws.” Later God gave Moses what He called “the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” There is no contradiction in this. The Bible was revealed to men like Moses. It was not an invention of their own minds but “men spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” 2 Peter 1:21.

B. Coordinating care for the people, 24:13-14.

Moses gives instructions to the elders, probably after the men who had been up higher on the mountain have returned to the base. Moses is going back up the mountain, but this time only taking Joshua, his servant, to accompany him. Joshua is a minor figure here in Exodus, but he becomes more important as he leads Israel into the Promised Land. He is currently learning valuable lessons in ministry by serving Moses in practical way, literally as his minister. But on this trip, it is likely he served as Moses’ porter, helping Moses up the mountain with whatever Moses needed to bring with him--every indication was that it would be more than a day trip. Here is an example of God’s pattern for developing spiritual leadership, by learning to lead at someone else’s side.

Moses also demonstrated leadership by delegating responsibility to others while he was gone. He placed Aaron and Hur in charge while he was away. This seemed like a good choice at the time, but later events demonstrate that things can go wrong when a leader is absent for a time.

C. The cloud of God’s glory, 24:15-18.

Moses went up the mountain. This time, as the mediator who represented the people before God, now God was inviting him to enter into His cloud of glory, the visible manifestation of His awesome majesty.

Moses’ journey to this point started at the burning bush where the LORD first revealed His glory to His prophet. This is where Moses learned of the LORD’s self-existence and self-sufficiency.

God revealed His glory again while leading the children of Israel in their escape from Egypt by the fiery pillar of cloud, another manifestation of His invisible glory.

Once again God descended in fire and smoke on His holy mountain, the cloud covering the mountain top. Verse 17 describes what it looked like to the people looking up, “like a consuming fire on the mountain top.” God was there, indwelling and inhabiting the cloud of His glory. In the Exodus, God revealed glory upon glory. Moses enters the cloud and sits within that manifestation of God’s glory for six days before the LORD calls to him from the midst of the cloud. He will remain there for forty days.

This is a picture of our own salvation:

We are called to worship God, speaking to us through His word.

We are separated from God by our sin, so we must keep our distance.

God provides a sacrifice of atonement through the blood of His covenant.

Once our sins are covered, we can have fellowship with God and may sit down to feast at His banquet.

Someday soon we will enter into His glory. We not only will see God and sit down with Him but also participate in His glory.

What happened to Moses will happen to us: God will come down and lift us up into glory. Jesus revealed the glory of God in his very person, and as the divine Son of God, he was the full expression of God’s glory. John wrote, John 1:14b, 18; “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” John 14:9.

John 1:14b NASB95

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18 NASB95

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 14:9 NASB95

Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Jesus came down so that one day we could be lifted up. Everyone who comes to God through faith in Jesus Christ has glory as his destiny. The Bible tells us Rev. 1:7

Revelation 1:7 NASB95

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

and 1 Thess 4:17

1 Thessalonians 4:17 NASB95

Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Today we live in a world that is inglorious—a world that for all its beauty is tragically marred by sin. In our mundane existence we are surrounded by everything trashy and tawdry. If nothing else, we continually have to live with the ugliness of our own sin. But there is something better in our destiny. We have been saved for the glory of God, and one day everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ will be lifted up into the brightness of his glory. We believe this because we have God’s Word on it:

1 Corinthians 2:9 NASB95

but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

1 Corinthians 2:10 NASB95

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

2. The call for a free-will offering, 25:1-9.

A. The request of God, 25:1-2.

On the seventh day on the mountain God speaks to Moses and the first thing He tells him is to “tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me.” Their giving to the LORD is an important sign of their commitment to Him, just as our giving to God is an important sign of our commitment to Christ. Our willingness to give back some of what we own is one of the leading indicators of our spiritual health. Generosity is one of the vital signs of real Christianity. Exodus 25 is one of more than 400 Bible passages which talk specifically about money, goods and general principles for Christian stewardship. The instructions God gave to Moses teach us to give our very best to God--from the heart--for his holy work.

This offering was to God and as such, it was an act of holy worship, for the glory of God.

This was a free-will offering, voluntary, much like Paul describes in his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 9:7).

2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB95

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

It is a giving that comes from the heart. God was allowing His people to choose to contribute to the construction of a dwelling for Him among them.

This was different than the times when God did specify the amount, such as the tithe of everything from the land (Lev. 27:30)

Leviticus 27:30 NASB95

‘Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.

This was used to support the Levites, who had no land of their own and were scattered around the country. A second tithe went to support temple worship in Jerusalem (Deut. 12:17-19.

Deuteronomy 12:17–19 NASB95

“You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand. “But you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all your undertakings. “Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

God expected His people to give regularly and faithfully to His worship and work. Special occasions--such as the building of the tabernacle--called for special offerings.

As we shall see later in Exodus, the people’s hearts were touched by God’s grace toward them, compelling them to give. They were saved by God’s grace. He had rescued them from slavery. He had showered them with treasure. He had delivered them from their enemies. He provided water to drink and food to eat. He had given them His law and shown them His glory. He had provided atonement for their sins through the blood of His covenant. As they reflected on what God had done, their hearts swelled with gratitude. They were compelled by grace to give something back to God. It is more than a duty, a “have to”-- it is a “want to.”

B. The requested items, 25:3-7.

God had a long list of items He wanted. He had a major project in mind: a tabernacle to serve as His holy dwelling, which was a portable structure representing God’s presence with His people.

The last sixteen chapters of Exodus are dominated by the construction of the tabernacle. Every item on God’s list was needed for the tabernacle.

Many of these items were costly. The gold, silver and bronze plundered from the Egyptians was to be brought. The colored fabrics were nearly as costly: blue/violet color came from a dye extracted from a species of shellfish found in abundance in the sea, especially by the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. the transparent liquid secreted from the glands of live shellfish when exposed to sunlight became a deep violet color. The process was extremely expensive. The other yarn colors mentioned were collected from a type of worm--less costly, but no less opulent. Fine Egyptian linen and expensive spices and perfumes were to be given. The gemstones that studded the robes of the high priest were also quite valuable. Every item was a treasure, yet not everyone had pure gold, fine linen, and precious gems to contribute.

Some of the items God needed were less expensive, making it possible for all to contribute something. Acacia wood was available from the terrain itself; some other items would be probably traded for. Many of these items would have to be crafted by human hands into their manufactured state. This demonstrated God’s desire to have His people involved in the process, giving of their best for the LORD’s abode.

C. The reason for the request, 25:8-9.

Verse 8 describes the end product as “a sanctuary” -- a holy place where the holiness of God would be at home. The same holiness that shook Mount Sinai will settle in their midst in this small segment of structured and sanctified space.

Verse 9 describes the end product as a “dwelling place,” the noun from the verb which means to settle someplace for a time (not in a permanent residence). It will not be a “house” for the LORD to live in, but the focal point, or evidence, of His dwelling in the midst of His people--a much more dynamic concept.

Moses was given a precise “pattern” by the LORD on the mountain. The verb used in verse 9 suggests that Moses was not only given verbal descriptions that we will see in the following texts but also had a visionary experience of what God had in mind as the finished tabernacle, its furnishings, and the outer courtyard.

You see what the LORD asks for His people to give that He may dwell among them.

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Giving for God’s Holy Work

What would you give to have God descend and dwell in the hearts of lost and dying sinners? Jesus gave his very life. Since eternity past, God the Son had enjoyed all the glories of Heaven. But he gave it all up by coming into the world, becoming a man, and finally dying on the cross. And he did it for this reason: to live in us. After he was raised from the dead, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to make a dwelling place for God in our hearts. We help complete this work by spreading the gospel. We preach Jesus Christ as the Savior who died on the cross for sinners and the Lord who rose from the dead. When people believe in Jesus, God the Holy Spirit comes to live in them forever. This is why we bring our offerings. This is why we support the ministry of God’s Word through the local church and give to the global work of the gospel. It is so the living God will dwell in people’s hearts through faith (cf. Eph. 3:17). What will you give to accomplish this?

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