Exodus 25-31
“God with us”
Introduction
Picture this scene for a moment: You get to heaven and everything you’ve ever wanted is there. Your dream house, your favourite vacation spot, more money than you can spend, the perfect golf courses, the very best food, your best friends, your family, all of your loved ones. You get to see them all. You name it, it’s all there… except God. Now here’s the question: Knowing that God will not be there, would you still want to go heaven? Would you want to go heaven if God were not there? Does the thought of heaven mean God to you? When you think heaven! Do you think God? Is your hope of heaven the hope of being with God? If it isn’t, you need to consider more carefully the purpose for which Jesus died. The goal of the Gospel; The end for which Jesus bled on the cross; His aim; The reason that He came was so that you might be reunited with God. John Calvin put it like this: The whole embassy of the Gospel is reconciliation with God. For as long as I can remember, there’s a simple yet profound saying that’s been around that summarises Christianity and it’s this: Christianity is not a religion (meaning a list of do’s and don’ts to help you stay out of trouble), it’s a relationship with God.
Heaven is not your post-death reward for good behaviour. Heaven, brothers and sisters is going to be filled with people from all tribes and all nations and all languages and all socio-economic backgrounds who love God. Do you enjoy a relationship with God through Jesus Christ? You see, Christianity is not about how much money you can have if God is on your side. It’s not about how many opportunities God can open for your career. It’s not even about how much better your life can be if God is in your life. It’s not about having a contingency plan so that you don’t end up in hell. It’s not about coming to church every once in while so that you can feel like a good person and therefore be included in heaven.
It’s about coming into a real relationship with the God who created you. It’s about knowing how much God loves you and wants to be with you. It’s about loving Him back. You were created to love God. And when you rebelled against Him, Jesus died for your sins so that you would love God. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” That’s what the Garden of Eden was all about right at the beginning. Man was with God.
Let’s pray…
Context
If you haven’t been around here much, we are studying the book of Exodus. Exodus is the second book of the Bible which tells us that it’s pretty close to the beginning of the story. The book is all about how God is working outHis plan to bring the sinful, arrogant, human race which rebelled against Him, back to a loving Father son relationship with Himself.You will remember from the first book of the Bible that, with the view of reaching the whole world in time, God initially took a man named Abraham and made the greatest promise in the world in Genesis 17:7… that He would be His God and the God the God of His descendants.
Fast forward to the book of Exodus, and He’s now brought these people out of slavery to Egypt and He is leading them to a land where He will recreate a microcosm of what He originally designed for His entire creation. He will recreate a small scale rendition of what He originally intended for the whole Earth. That’s what the Promised Land is going to represent: a microcosm of creation as God intended. Where God is with His people once and His people are with their God.
The nearness of God
So it comes as no surprise then that we find ourselves this morning in Exodus 25-31 where God is wearing His Architecture hat. In this passage God is giving Israel the construction plans for what will be at the very heart of this recreation project. In this passage God is drawing for Israel the blueprint of the thing that will contain that incredible thing thatwas lost when we human beings rebelled against God.
Have a look at it in the text: v1-7 He tells Moses about all the materials that the people of Israel will have to bring for the construction project. What is it that they are to build? God says in V8,“a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell with them.” They are to build a sanctuary in which God will dwell with them because that is what their rescue is all about in the end. Yes the fall brought suffering and death. Yes the fall resulted in all kinds of pain and trouble. But the incredible thing that was ultimately lost in the fall… was God. We lost fellowship with God. That God might dwell with us, therefore, is the end game of salvation. This is why the Israelites were rescued from Egypt.
Have a look at ch29:44-46, “So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt (why were they brought out of Egypt?) so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”
And so the Tabernacle represents the nearness of God. It contains the Ark of the Covenant where God sitsenthroned between the cherubim 25:22. And a table on which is placed the bread of the Presence 25:30. And a lampstand where the lamps are to be kept burning from evening till morning 27:21. All representing the nearness of God to His people…It is an outstanding thought that God wants to live with usisn’t it?
Ifthe thought of heaven for you is not fundamentally about having God living with you, you have missed the point of salvation. You have missed the point of the Bible. You have missed the point of Jesus the Christ.
Now because the Tabernacle is where God Himself will live among His people, have a look how He says it must be made. We don’t have time to look at all the details but have a look at ch26:1. “Make the Tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman.”
V29, “Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold.”
Flick over to ch31:1-6 (READ)
This is a meticulously designed place, super attention to detail using the finest materials known to man at the time and the most skilled pro’s; Pro’s that are equipped by the Spirit of God no less, to build a glorious sanctuary. What is all this telling us? It’s telling us the King of glory is coming to town! The author of creation is coming to land; the Majestic one who is praised by heavenly beings day and night without ceasing is near. Therefore, only the most splendorous will do. This must be a sanctuary fit for the King of Kings.
But don’t miss the point: It’s this King of Glory whom the very heavens cannot contain who chooses to pitch a tent for Himself among the tents of His people at theircamping site on the foot hills of Mount Sinai (why?) because He longs to be with His people. What a God! Imagine the thought as you read these construction: we will have God with us.
Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Cristiano Ronaldo, Katy Perry, Brad Pitt, Roger Federer, Taylor Swift. Is there anyone here who doesn’t know any of these names?
These people are some of the biggest names in the world. They are some of the most well-known people in the world. They are also some of the most followed people on the social networks. Millions of people know them. Millions would give anything to meet them. Perhaps you have celebrity that you would give a toe to meet. The reality of course is that they don’t know you and they really never think about meeting you.
Isn’t it absolutely mind-blowing that the God of the universe would venture into time and space and cross galaxies and quasars and stars and planets all in order to pitch a tent and dwell with people in the middle of a desert?
The Tabernacle represents the nearness of God… but at the same time, the Tabernacle also represents the distance of God. How?
The distance of God
- God chooses a very specific location for His presence within the Tabernacle that has limited access. That’s the ark. Have a look at ch25:10, “Have them make a chest of acacia wood – two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.” V17 Make an atonement cover of pure gold… v21 “Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the Testimony (or the covenant), which I will give you. There above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.” Who meets with God? Moses.
- Ch28:1 God says to Moses, “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so that they may serve me as priests.” In other words, Aaron and his sons will serve God as representatives of God to the Israelites and as representatives of the Israelites to God. And because they represent God, they must wear clothing which displays that they are set apart for the service of the glorious, majestic King v2: “Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honour. Tell all the skilled men to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so that he may serve me as priest.”
V5, “Make them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.” Why these colours? Well, they are the exact colours and skills that are utilised in the Tabernacle which they are called to represent. Go down to v30, “also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the LORD. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart…” Their garments also show that they represent the Israelites to God: v9 “Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel in the order of their birth – six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other… v12 Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD.” So it’s Moses together with Aaron and His sons who can actually approach God. The Israelites can’t.The requirement of distance is so significant that, in fact, the Levite tribe had to pitch their tents around the Tabernacle to demarcate yet another barrier between God and the people. Otherwise they would die in his presence.
- But even these priests are in serious danger of death if they don’t observe certain strict precautions. V34, “The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die.”
They must also wear specific linen underpants. V43, “Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die.” There’s also a washing basin that must be made for the Tabernacle. Ch30:19, “Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the LORD by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die.” So, although God comes to dwell with His people, the trouble is that sinners cannot be in the presence of a holy God and live. You will die in the presence of God. The presence of a pure, spotless, radiantly holy God is a dangerous thing for dingy, dark, dirty sinners like you and me and the Israelites.
- That is why chapter 29 describes in detail all the sacrifices that the priests must make before they can minister in the presence of the LORD. Look at v14: “Burn the bull’s flesh and its hide and its offal outside the camp. It is a sin offering. Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head…V19, “Take the other ram, and Aaron and His sons shall lay their hands on its head.” They are laying their hands on them as a symbol of identification with the rams.
They are acknowledging that they deserve to die in the presence of the LORD, and that those rams are killed in their place. Apart from the washing ritual, there are basically 3 kinds of offerings that the priests would make, namely a sin offering, a burnt offering and a peace offering. Their purpose was atonement for sin. In order for a priest not to die, an animal’s blood had to be shed. Only after all these observances were made could they be set apart or consecrated to serve in the Tabernacle and offer sacrifices day after day, year after year on behalf of the rest of the Israelites without dying.
So although the tabernacle represented the nearness of God, it also represents the distance of God from sinners.
The inadequacy of the Tabernacle
So even in its conception, remember we are still reading the construction plans, even in its conception the Tabernacle was already announcing its own inadequacy as a means to reach the ultimate goal of salvation which is bringing God and His people into intimate fellowship with one another. Even though God drew near to His people by means of the Tabernacle, the people of God could not actually draw near to God because their sins remained a barrier between themselves and God.
Even though they had priests to offer sacrifices for their sins, those sacrifices never quite achieved the washing away of sins such that access to God could become a permanent personal reality for them. And the priests in all their splendorous, dignified garb were nevertheless unqualified to be mediators between God and men. The very fact that they had to offer sacrifices for their own sins proves this. They are in the same camp as those who need mediation.
The picture of aheavenly reality foundin Christ
So what was all this about them? What was God doing when He set this whole thing up? He was advertising what was to come in the future. He was pointing forward to the reality of what the Tabernacle was aiming for.
And there’s a hint for us in this passage that the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system, in fact, is an advert. It’s a picture. It’s not the thing itself. Have a look at what God repeatedly says to Moses when He draws this blueprint for him:
25:9 “Make this Tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”
25:40 “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
26:30 “Set up the Tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain”
27:8 “Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.”
What does the fact that there is an existing pattern after which the Tabernacle must be constructed tell you about the Tabernacle?
Well Hebrews 8:5 spells out the answer for us. Speaking about the priests, it says “They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the Tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”
The whole Tabernacle, followed by the Temple system, was a shadow, a copy, a picture, a reflection. The reality of which came through Jesus Christ.
Listen to how Hebrews 9:6-10 unpacks the inadequacy of the Tabernacle. (READ) external regulations. They were outward symbols of a deeper reality that was to come.
And indeed, Hebrews 9:11-12(READ) After Jesus died on that cross and shed His own blood for us, He rose again from the dead and actually ascended into heaven and on the basis of His own spotless blood, He pleaded for our forgiveness in the presence of God and He obtained eternal redemption for us once and for all.