The Tabernacle

Exodus 25:8–9 KJV 1900

8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

Introduction

God instructs Moses to direct the children of Israel to participate in an offering.

All the people that were of willing hearts were to participate.

There was no one single type of offering that was required.

Metals

Gold

Silver

Brass

Fabrics

Blue

Purple

Scarlet

Fine linen

Skins

Rams

Badgers

Shittim Wood

Essential Oils

Light

Spices

Sweet incense

Onyx Stones

Everyone in the camp could participate, if they wanted to.

Later, we will see that the people responded overwhelmingly.

The purpose of the offering was to provide for the building of a tabernacle.

God would allow the people to construct a dwelling place for His glory.

This dwelling place would literally be situated in the center of the camp of Israel.

This is symbolic of the place that God wishes to occupy in the lives of all of His followers.

The tabernacle represented a new stage in the people’s relationship with God.

For the last 40 days, they had watched as Mt. Sinai had thundered and smoked with God’s presence.

They been told that they could not eve n touch the mountain, or else they would be killed.

Only Moses and Joshua had been permitted to go up to the mountain.

But now, God would come down from the mountain to dwell in the midst of the Israelites.

We take for granted, if we are not careful the closeness that we have with God.

We take for granted the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

This was a momentous time for the Israelites.

The tabernacle would be the sight of many monumental moments in the spiritual life of Israel until the construction of the Temple.

Why was a tabernacle needed?

The Israelites had a pretty good thing going at Sinai.

I would encourage you to check out youtube for the video “search for the real Mt. Sinai.”

In this video you can see that amazing way that God cared for His people at Sinai.

There was the rock that flowed with millions of gallons of water.

God’s presence was on the mountain.

There was grass and space for their herds.

But, it wasn’t the promised land.

They were not intended to settle at Sinai.

In fact, they still had 450 km to travel before they would reach the spot of the Jordan River crossing.

If the Israelites were going to need to continue traveling, and if God was going to dwell in the midst of them, then this required the Hebrew place of worship to be moveable.

This is why God directed them to build a tabernacle and not a temple.

A tabernacle is temporary and mobile while a temple is permanent and unmoveable.

In order for Israel to reach the place that God had for them, they had to be able to move.

They couldn’t stay where they were.

No matter how nice and welcoming a place they may have come across, they had to move forward.

If they didn’t they would be out of God’s will.

We, as a church body, need to embody the characteristics of our name.

Our city is changing.

In 2002 when we moved into this building, our city had a population of 4,289.

In 2022, our city has a population 8,346.

In a meeting with our school superintendent early last week, Collinsville will add another 900 homes over the course of the next 5 years.

Our school system sees a growing number of people moving to our area and they are preparing now to be able to receive them.

We would be foolish to not do the same.

We cannot stay at Sinai.

We are really comfortable.

We haven’t had a building payment in 10 years.

We know what it takes to manage what we have.

Cleaning

Utilities

Repair

We have to prepare for the future.

God lets us participate in the construction of our place of worship.

Do we really want to say that the facility that was built 20 years ago to reach a community of 4,000, is the same facility that we should rely on to reach 8,000?

I say we are comfortable, but we aren’t.

This morning we were at 70% capacity with 198 in the auditorium.

And that’s in July.

In order for us to do this, it will take participation from all who are willing and desirous.

It will take flexibility and mobility.

It will mean leaving where we have been to get to where we believe He wants us to be.