This week we discussed the purpose for the Tabernacle so that we would understand the heart of God for His people. Often when reading the Old Testament some Christians are confused about the application of the text for today. As we studied the Tabernacle, we learned about all that God wanted to do to demonstrate His holiness and His desire to dwell with His people. Having a proper understanding of the Tabernacle helps believers today to better comprehend God’s purposes in our world today. The tabernacle also helps us understand the person and work of Jesus Christ in greater measure. The reality is that God loves us and wants to be present and central in our lives today. May this week’s message be a strong encouragement in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
Pastor Jeff:
Our Father in heaven, you are so good to us. And Lord, we praise you that every time that we gather and every time that we prepare our hearts and that your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you have a word for us. So Lord, our prayer today is, speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. Lord, we want you to do a work in and through us that gives us a greater picture of who you are, how we can worship and relate to you and what you want to use our lives for, how you want to work in and through us. So Lord, we give you all the glory, we give you all the honor and we give you all the praise. And now for all those who have gathered here today who desire to hear the Lord, who will believe what Jesus says directly to you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen? Amen.
As I was preparing this message this week, I was thinking about my stories of putting things together and building things in my family are legendary. Whether it's been a CD rack, do you remember what CDs are? I remember buying a CD rack at a store one time. It was supposed to take about three minutes to put together. It took me over an hour. And when I went to put the CDs on it, the whole thing broke.
I remember when Kim and I first got married, I wanted to surprise her. We got one of those arm mirrors for our bathroom. We had moved into a new house and I wanted to surprise her. It was just two screws you had to screw in and then mount the thing. And I said, I'll do it while she's gone. It took over two and a half hours. There were five holes in my wall. There may have been swear words that came out of my mouth. I was so upset. I had to call somebody out that came out and fixed it in literally less than five minutes and wouldn't let me pay them because it was such an easy job.
And then there's stories of me putting kids' presence together where I would tell my in-laws at time, if it has to be assembled, don't give it to my kids because it never will be. I don't know how to put things together. That's just not the skillset for which God gave me. And yet, when I get to Exodus chapter 25, 26 and 27, it all seems to be how to put together the tabernacle. I mean, when I read this, I read this as an instruction manual for assembling toys for my kids. And for many of us who start reading the Bible through in a year, we get to about right here and we either start skimming or we're like, "What in the world does this have to do with anything?"
As a matter of fact, when it comes to this section of scripture, oftentimes we think, well tabernacle, that's for Israel. You're correct. We don't build a tabernacle today. So what's the point of even talking about it? Why don't we just skip over that and make our way to the New Testament, talk about what's really important, Jesus Christ? I want to tell you this. If you understand Exodus 25, 26 and 27, you're going to have a greater picture of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I told you last week to go ahead and read ahead. We're going to go through 89 verses this morning. We're going to do a flyover. Now, there's a reason for that. There's really two reasons. Number one is I don't want to get bogged down in all the detail of curtains and sockets and boards and all those things. And there are people that can teach that better than I can. If you're interested, you can go online, you can take a seminary course, you can learn all about these things.
But number two is I want to give you a broad overview of what the tabernacle is all about. Because if you understand what we're about ready to talk about today, you're going to understand the purposes of God and how God wants to relate to you. So if you have your Bible, I want to encourage you open up to Exodus chapter 25, Exodus chapter 25. We're going to begin in verse 10 this morning. And by God's grace, we're going to make it all the way through Chapter 27. We finish the finished the first nine verses last week. And what we talked about was as soon as God calls Moses up and Moses walks into the presence of God, unlike anyone else who's been able to do, and the people look on and see it's a consuming fire.
The first thing that God requires of him to tell his people is to do what? Collect an offering. Take an offering. Collect money from them. Why? Because they've been slaves for over 430 years. They haven't had anything. And now that they've taken and pillaged from Egypt everything, and they begin to buy and sell and they begin to get wealth and they begin to have property. Now the first thing God wants them to know is, I don't want you to be tied to your material blessings. God doesn't need their materials. God doesn't need their money. God created the entire universe in six days out of nothing. God is not impoverished, but God did not want them to be dependent upon their wealth. So he is like, bring it to me. The principle in the New Testament is still bring God your first fruits, bring God the tithe, bring God your best. Don't be tied to your money. Be generous with God.
So he has them do all this because he's going to have them build a tabernacle, which is the place for which God is going to dwell. That is the tabernacle. In the Old Testament, this is what God was having to build. So before we get started, I'm going to show you just a couple of slides just to give you a big bird's eye view of what we're talking about. And the first slide that you're going to see is depictive of what the tabernacle would have looked like. As you look at that picture up on your screen, I'll describe just a couple things to you. That fence that you see going around there is 150 feet by 75 feet. The little tent, the big tent in the middle, I should say, involved two different sections. That whole tent was 45 feet by 15 feet and that... Oh, you took it down. Don't take it down.
I'm trying to explain how to build something. I've never been able to do this before. All right. That tent is divided into two sections, which is it's 45 feet long. It's 30 feet by 15 feet. That first section was called the Holy Place. The second section was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, which you're going to see is divided by a veil. As you enter that tent from this side that you're looking at, there's a brazen altar there that we'll talk about and then there's a laver there before you would even enter the Holy Place. That's that's a picture for what it looks like. Now the next slide shows the interior and shows a little bit of what this would look like. If we're entering there from the right of your slide, you see the burnt offerings or the brazen or bronze altar, you see the laver. Then you enter into the Holy Place, which would have the table of show bread or the light that they call the menorah here or the altar of incense.
Then you would make your way into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant would be. What you're going to see today and where we start, we're going to start with the Ark of the Covenant and we're going to move our way to the outer courtyard there just so that you have an idea visually of where we're going. Does that give you at least a picture?
Some of your bibles, if you have a study Bible, it may have a picture of this that's drawn in there just so you have an idea of what God was asking them to build. Now, one thing you need to know is that this Ark of the Covenant was placed right in the center of everything that Israel did because God wanted to be central to all that they did.
So I'm going to give you three statements about the tabernacle and what the tabernacle reminds us for, one for each chapter so that we don't get bogged down in the details. And the first is this. The tabernacle reminds us that God desires to dwell with you by being glorified and central in your life. Now, I've made all of these first person. It's true of all of us. It's true as a community and God always works in community. He's working through his church in the New Testament.
But I want to make this personal for you. And here's what I want you to see is that God desires to dwell with you by being glorified and central in your life. So let's take a look at this, Exodus 25:10, notice what he says. He's talking to Moses talking about what the nation of Israel shall do. "They shall construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide and one and a half cubits high."
A qubit was about 18 inches of a measurement. It's a measurement of a man's elbow to the tip of his third finger. That's what a cubit is. They used a 18 inches, some used 19, some used 21. Go to seminary, figure out which one it is exactly. The way that I come up with the calculations, this Ark of the Covenant was really 23 inches wide by 39 inches long by 23 inches high. If you want to keep it simple like I do, it's about two by three feet. That's how big the Ark of the Covenant is. That's what he's having them build.
Then he says this, "build it with acacia wood." Verse 11, "You shall overlay it with pure gold inside and out. You shall overlay it and you shall make it gold mounting around it. You shall cast four gold rings for it and fasten them on its four feet and two rings shall be on the side and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the side of the ark to carry the ark with them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark and they shall not be removed from it. You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you."
So the way this is going to be carried, because understand the tabernacle is portable. It's going to move around, it's going to be in different places. As Israel travels, it's going to go. As they move into the promised land, the tabernacle's going to go with. Why? Because the tabernacle's going to house the presence of God. So he gives them instructions, not only build this ark, that's where I'm going to dwell. But he gives them instructions for what to do.
Build it with acacia wood. It's a very strong wood. And then overlay it with gold. Why? Because I'm worthy of the finest. That's who I am, because I'm God. And not only is the ark to be built, but they're building little rings on it that they slide poles in because how was the ark to be transported? It was to be carried by the priest. It was to be carried by the men. We see in different spots in the Old Testament, there's one in particular where David decided we're not going to carry it by poles. I mean we've invented the wheel for heaven's sakes. Let's put it on a cart. And as they were carting the tabernacle, which was not God's way of doing it, what happened? The ark began to tip. A guy named Uzzah reached out to touch it. The second he touched it, he died.
Why? As I've heard said from another theologian, it's because Uzzah thought that his hands were cleaner than the dirt. See, what we forget is that we're sinful. The dirt's not sinful. You can't, in your sin, touch the presence of God and live. God was giving them away to carry him, to house him, to understand how I can be with you. Because you're sinful, you need to build it like this. You need to make it strong. You need to overlay it with gold. And those poles always stay in the Ark of the Covenant.
So let me get to verse 17. "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. You shall make two cherubim of gold and make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end, and you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at two ends. The cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing towards one another. The faces of the cherubim are turned toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And the ark you shall put the testimony which I shall give you."
He said that twice. Now, the testimony he's going to give them is the 10 Commandments that he's going to write for Moses. That's part of what's going to go in there. And then he says this, "There I will meet with you. And from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim of which you are upon the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in the commandment for the sons of Israel." So he makes very specific now there's going to be a golden cherubim, two cherubim that are on top of this ark. You've probably seen them like winged creatures that are there. Cherubim is a way of saying guardian. Sometimes we have a cherubim when they sinned and were kicked out of the garden of Eden got put... Cherubim with a flaming sword in front of the tree of life. It's a guardian. Anytime you see the word cherub or cherubim which is the plural, that means that they're guarding something. What are they guarding? The glory of God.
And what we're going to find out is once this tabernacle gets assembled, in the future, it's going to be in the temple. Nobody is allowed to enter that Holy of Holies except for who? The high priest. And how often can he enter? Once a year. Why? Because God's presence is there. And God's presence needs to be revered and that's how God's setting it all up. So I want to make it a strong wood. I want it done in this way and I wanted you to put a cherubim or a guardian of gold over the top that signifies my presence. That was called the mercy seat. In the New Testament, Jesus is called the mercy seat. Jesus is called our propitiation. Jesus is our mediator between God, the Father and us. That's who Jesus is.
So what God is setting up for Israel, he's foreshadowing what's going to come in the person of Jesus Christ. So he is going to start with his glory. What does God want you to understand first and foremost? God wants you to understand first and foremost that he's glorious. He's not like you and he's not like me. He's sinless, he's perfect, he's holy, he's righteous, he's good. And oh yes, he's loving. But make no mistake about it, God is nothing like us. And yet what does he want to do? He wants to dwell with us. He wants to be with us.
He said, what's the big deal about that? Listen, listen, listen. Some of you even came to church today wondering, does God even love me? Does God want to be with me? Does God even care about what I'm going through? What's God's answer? 100%. The first thing I wanted to do was be central in the entire nation of Israel. What's God's purpose today? He wants to be central and glorified in your life in every way. So what was God doing in the Old Testament? He was making a way to be central in the life of the nation of Israel.
What do we see in the New Testament? We see that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. And John 1:14 says, "And the word became flesh." And what? Literally the word became flesh and tabernacle among us. Tabernacle means dwelled. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the incarnate tabernacle. Jesus is God coming to man. It's the Father sending the Son to be the savior of the world, coming in all of his glory, coming in all of his holiness to dwell among a sinful people. That's who our God is. He came to tabernacle among us. Notice what else. We'll continue on. So he's got the Ark of the Covenant. Now he's going to build out the table of showbread.
Verse 23, he said, "You shall make a table of acacia wood," that's that strong wood again, "two cubits long and one cubit wide and one and a half cubits high. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a gold border around it. You shall make for it a rim of handbreath around it. You shall make a gold border for the rim around it. You shall make four gold rings for it and put rings in the four corners which are on its four feet. The rings shall be close to the rim as holders for the people to carry the table. You shall make the poles," again the poles are coming, "of acacia wood and overlay them with gold," just like we talked about before, "so that with them the table may be carried. You shall make its dishes and its pans and its jars and its bowls with which to pour drink offerings. You shall make them with pure gold." And notice what he says. "You shall set the bread of presence on the table before me at all times."
What did God want the priest to set there? Bread. What's the significance of bread? Bread is fellowship. Bread is sustenance. Bread is life. Is there any question why when Jesus came to the world, he said what? I am the bread of life. Jesus was represented by that table of showbread. It's a fresh word from the Lord. It's fresh fellowship with the Lord. It's always ongoing with the Lord. It never ever stops with the Lord. What was God trying to get his people to see? That he's holy, but I'm providing a way for you to always be in connection and always be in fellowship with me. Do you know the same is still true today, that God still wants to be in fellowship with you. He still wants to be in community with you. Now we need to redeem the word fellowship a little bit. For those of us that grew up in the church, sometimes we think of fellowship as cookies, punch in a fellowship hall.
That's not fellowship. Fellowship is connecting with God in such a way that we're so encouraged by who he is that we want to connect with his people in that same kind of way. That's fellowship. Fellowship is rightly relating to God so we can rightly relate to others. It's getting a fresh word from the Lord so we can be fresh in our community and witness to others. That's the table of showbread. And then notice this, the golden lampstand in verses 31 and following. "Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work. It's cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. Six branches shall go out from its side. Three branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other." That's where we get the menorah. One in the center and three on each side with it all being lit, this light.
Notice verse 33, "Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch and a bulb and a flower and three cups like an almond blossom in the other branch, a bulb and a flower. So for six branches going out from the lampstand, and in the lampstand, four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers. A bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece with it. All of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold."
Do you hear repetition here? I mean, do you hear God saying, "I have a specific way that I want this done"? I mean, even as you're listening you're like, "Come on God, just say it once." Why does God need to repeat himself? Because if God is not specific with us, we'll do things in our own way. So he is telling them this is exactly how I desire to be worshiped. Notice what he says. Verse 37, "Then you shall make its lamps seven in number and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it. Its snuffers in their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made from a talent of pure gold with all these utensils. See that you make them after the pattern for them which was shown to you on the mountain." God says, "I have a way of setting this up. I want it done just like this. Don't waiver from my plan. I want to dwell with you. I want to be glorified. I want to be central in your life."
What was the significance of the golden lampstand? It was to light. It was to provide light. Is it any question that when Jesus came and said what? I am the light of the world. He was the fulfillment incarnate of what was going on in the tabernacle. What they were experiencing in the tabernacle in the fullness of God is fully realized in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Everything God is doing in the tabernacle has significance for when his son comes and who his son's going to be. Well, who's the son going to be? The one that houses all the glory of God? We've seen his glory. Who's he going to be? He's the bread of life. Who's he going to be? He's the light of the world. Who is Jesus? He's the one who's coming and tabernacling among us. He is God in flesh.
That's why we don't need to build a tabernacle anymore because the one who is our tabernacle came and tabernacled among us. Amen? Isn't that good news? That's what we're seeing in the text. That's what fires me up because I'm telling you, the first 10 times I read this text this week, I'm like, how the heck am I going to teach this? I mean, how many times are we going to talk about these bulbs and all these things over and over again. And here's the fact. The fact that God wants to dwell with us, that he's the bread of life, that he is the light of the world, it means this. You're never alone.
Some of you need to know that this morning because some of you feel like you're alone. Emotionally some of you feel like you're isolated and you feel like nobody cares and you feel like nobody wants to be around you. You are never alone. Even if you've not responded to Jesus, he's still seeking you and pursuing you and wants a relationship with you. You're not alone. And Christian, men, women, boys and girls, listen to me. You're never alone because the spirit of God dwells in you. You're never alone. I mean the scriptures talk about this all over the place. In Hebrews he says, "Never will I leave your forsake you." At the end of the Great Commission, Jesus says, "And I'll be with you always to the end of the age." And the Old Testament says our God is a very present help in times of trouble.
Church, listen to me today. You're not alone. You wonder, well where's God and how come He and why isn't... I can't answer all the reasons God does all the things he does and I don't need to know, and God doesn't disclose all those things to me or to you. What I do know is he's holy, he's righteous, he's good, he's loving and he's right nearby or in you if you're a believer. He's never going to leave you or forsake you. You're not alone today. Because some of us look like, well, there was a dwelling place of God like that where every time we went like the presence of God, wouldn't it be awesome if God's presence just dwelled at Brave all the time? We would go all the time. No you wouldn't. You'd be busy with all the other things that you're busy with that keep you from enjoying God's presence right now.
God's presence does dwell in and through all his saints and there's a special way his presence dwells when all his saints gather to do the things he's called us to do, to worship his holy name. Amen. We can still experience his presence today. And that's what Chapter 25 is really trying to highlight. Now obviously there's ways that you can dial down. And for some of you that say, I'd really like to know the exact dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant and really work on building one for myself, you can go a little deeper. You can work on the table of showbread. I'm trying to give you an overview of what these pieces of furniture represent to us in our life. God desires to dwell with you. He wants to be glorified in your life. He wants to be central in your life. He doesn't want just to be a little bit.
Why did God establish the tabernacle right in the middle of all the 12 tribes of Israel? Because he wanted his presence to be central. He wanted his glory to be central. Why is it when Jesus meets people all throughout his ministry, he never says, "Hey, just pray this little prayer and go do your own thing." He wants full allegiance from everyone he meets. When he meets the rich young ruler who said, "Well, I've kept all the 10 Commandments. I've been doing good. I'm a pretty religious person. I mean, I've tried to do my best," and all this. Yeah. One thing, go sell everything you own and come follow me. And the man walked away sad. Why? Because he didn't want to give full allegiance to Jesus. And what did Jesus want? Full allegiance. What did God want in the Old Testament? Full allegiance.
Where do we get this false idea today that God just wants us to take a step through the doorway and doesn't care if we do anything else? You won't find it in the Old or the New Testament. You either give your all to God that you know how to give to God. And obviously even when you give your all to God, there's still more to give that we're just not aware of yet. But you give your all. You don't get to say, "Well, I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to honor the Lord." There's no such thing. That's called dishonoring the Lord. Heaven is for people that want to honor the Lord. It's a byproduct of an ongoing relationship with Christ. The most important part about experiencing heaven is Jesus. And if you don't want Jesus here, you're not going to want him there. Amen.
Okay, chapter 25 tells us about God's desire to dwell with you. He wants to be with you and he wants to be glorified in your life and he wants to be central in your life. Chapter 26 says this, "God details the proper way for you to honor and worship him." In chapter 26, we're going to read how God details the proper way for you to honor him and worship him. Now, why is this important? Because we think we can honor and worship God any way that we want. We'll pick our own way of worshiping God. I worship God in the way I want to worship God. No. God sets up standards for how he wants to be worshiped and then he asks us to worship him like that. So this is where we're going to get into some of the details. He's going to talk about curtains of linen.
So let's talk about this, first chapter 26 and verse one. "Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine twisted linen in blue and purple and scarlet material. You should make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman." We'll come back to verse one. "The length of each curtain shall be 28 cubits and the width of each curtain four cubits and the curtains shall have the same measurements. Five curtains shall be joined to one another and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another. You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. And likewise, you shall make them on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. You shall make 50 loops in one curtain and you shall make 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loops shall be opposite each other. You shall make 50 clasps of gold and join the curtains to one another with the clasp so that the tabernacle will be a unit."
Now, if Moses told that to me, I would say, "What?" I mean, so as we dial down, here's what I want you to see. When you see the curtains of linen, think what it represents. He gives us three colors and he talks about the cherubim in there. The three colors are blue, purple and red. Blue, we saw that sapphire color last week, represents the heavenly nature of God, his deity. Purple represents his royalty. And red represents his humanity or it can also represent blood that needs to be shed. All these are going to be what the curtains are made of. And you're going to use a skillful craftsman because as you weave all these, he's also going to weave a cherubim looking cherubs all over these curtains as well. So it'll be God guarding his holiness and righteousness and truth.
Now what do you get in the New Testament? You still see the blue and the purple and the red and the son of God, do you not? I mean, Jesus in his blue nature represents heaven. He was sent from heaven. He said, "I came from my father. I and the father of one. I only do what I see my father doing. You are right when you call me Lord for it is so." Well, you a mere man. I mean you're not even 50 years old and you're talking about Abraham. He said, "Before Abraham was, I am." That's the blue nature. That's his divinity.
What about his royal nature? Well, he was God in flesh. I mean even at his crucifixion, what kind of robe did they put on him to mock him? A purple robe. You call yourself royalty. We'll give you some royalty after we whip you and beat you. We'll put a purple robe on you. And what about Jesus' humanity? He was God in the flesh who shed his red blood for the world. So you see, even the curtains are going to represent the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.
If you go to Israel, I think it's still there. I went in 2000. You can walk through a tabernacle that's out in the wilderness. I don't know exactly where it is, but it's fascinating when you walk through. They've tried to do their best to recreate what this tabernacle would have looked like and you can walk through it and see all these different things. So the curtains are representative of the nature of who our God is. So when you look at the combination of these colors, you would say, "Glory, it's our Lord."
Now he's going to get into curtains of goats hair. Verse seven, he said, "Then you shall make curtains of goats hair for a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make 11 curtains in all. The length of each curtain shall be 30 cubits and the width of each curtain, four cubits. And the 11 curtains shall have the same measurements. You shall join five curtains by themselves and the other six curtains by themselves and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the front of the tent. You should make 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the first set and 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the outermost of the second set. You shall make 50 clasps of bronze and you shall put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it will be a unit. The overlapping part that is left over in the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that is left over shall lap over the back of the tabernacle. The cubit on the one side and the cubit on the other, what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other to cover it."
Then he says this, "You shall make a covering for the the tent of rams' skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above." Porpoise would have been waterproof. And you can read about this. There's tons of debate as to whether it was a porpoise or some sort of other animal that was waterproof. The bottom line when you read all this, and the reason I don't want to hunker down here and talk about all the 50 different clasps and how to put all this together is number one, because even as I've read this many times, I still wouldn't know how to put it together because God didn't give me that skillset. What I want you to see in this is what was the purpose for all of this? Why did God want this curtains of goats here and then ram skins and then a covering of porpoise.
Here's what I want you to see. I want you to see the curtains of goat's hair representing covering, protection. I mean, this is a tent in the wilderness. My camping stories are just as legendary as my building stories. I mean, every time I go camping, my tent is the one that has water in it the next morning. My tent is the one that's falling down. Everybody else was like, "Wasn't that warm last night?" No, I froze to death. I didn't know how to build all this stuff. He's teaching them that in this tabernacle, if it's going to be established and it's portable, we got to make it in such a way that it's covered in such a way that when it rains or there's great wind that this tabernacle is still standing.
What is one of God's properties? What is one of God's ways in which he loves us? He covers us. He protects us. Psalm 91 says we dwell under the shadow of his wings. Our God covers us. He loves us you. Not only are you not alone, God is protecting you. God is helping you. What did Jesus come to do? He came to protect you. He came to love you. He came to cover you. That's the purpose of the goat skins. That's the purpose of the ram skins. That's the purpose of the porpoise skins. It's covering.
Then we get to the boards and the sockets. Verse 15, he goes, "Then you shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood." That's that strong wood. "Standing upright 10 cubits shall be the length of each board and of the one cubit and a half qubit, the width of each board. There shall be two tenons for each board fitted into one another. Thus you shall do for all the boards of the tabernacle. You shall make the boards for the tabernacle, 20 boards for the south side. You shall make 40 sockets of silver under the 20 boards, two sockets under the one board for its two tenons and two sockets under the other board for its two tenons.
"And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, 20 boards and there 40 sockets of silver, two sockets under each board and two sockets under another board. For the rear of the tabernacle to the west, you shall make six boards. You shall make two boards for the corner of the tabernacle at the rear. They shall double beneath and together and they shall be complete to its top to the first ring. Thus it shall be with both of them. They shall form the two corners. There shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver, 16 sockets, two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board."
Now watch this. "Then you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the board of one side of the tabernacle and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle for the rear side to the west. The middle bar in the center of the board shall pass through from end to end. You shall overlay the boards with gold and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan which you have been shown on this mountain."
Woo. So what's he talking about? What's boards and sockets? Boards and sockets are what's going to hold everything together. Boards and sockets are the foundation for the whole tabernacle. Boards and sockets, without them, this whole tabernacle is going to fall. There's no way for it to remain upright. They're in the middle of the desert. They're exposed to all the elements. You have to have something that is a foundation so that the tabernacle continues to stand.
What is Jesus Christ? He's our foundation. He's our rock. He is our fortress. In him, we will never be shaken. Why is God going through all these great lengths to talk about boards and sockets and sockets and boards and 50 of these and two of those and eight of these? Because he wants to make sure that when he is put on display that everything is firm because our God is a firm foundation. Isn't that good news? That's who our God is. That's why even when Jesus teaches on the sermon of the mountain, he says, be careful how you build. There's two kinds of soil. You can build on the sand or you can build on the rock. And the one that builds on the sand, how great will his fall be? But the one who builds on the rock, even the rains, even the winds, it won't move that because why? Because he's on a solid foundation.
What was God teaching his people? He was teaching them about his character and how he wanted to relate to us. When Jesus comes, he is our solid foundation. He is our cornerstone. The stone that the builders rejected has become what? The cornerstone, the foundation for all of this. What is he showing us through the tabernacle? We're not going to go home and build one today. What's he showing us? That Jesus Christ is your cornerstone. That Jesus Christ is your foundation. If you build your life upon him, storms will come, tribulations will happen. But you will never be moved if you stand upon the rock of Jesus. Amen. That's what he's telling us here.
And it's interesting because when we look back and see, and Israel got to see all this, but they didn't get to experience it to the full like we do today in Jesus. And then we get to this veil and screen as we end up the chapter. Notice what he says. He says, "You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet." There you see those three materials again, "and find twisted linen. It shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. You shall hang it on the four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold on four sockets of silver. You shall hang up the veil under the clasp and shall bring in the Ark of the Testimony there within the veil. And the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
You shall put the mercy seat on the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies. You shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. And you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the door of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver. You shall make five pillars of acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold, their hooks also being of gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them."
What is the purpose of these veils and screens? It's this, it's separation. It's separation. Between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place or between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, there was this veil that went there. Why? Because God is distinct from us and God is separate from us and nobody can just cavalier come into the throne room of God and just worship him. There has to be a separation, right? And these screens were there so that you could enter and exit freely, but it could close up. But the veil was there for separation.
Now what do we see in the New Testament? We see that God is holy and that apart from repentance, we can't have a relationship with him. We see that God is not like us. He's holy and unlike us. He's separate from us. But what happened when Jesus Christ died on the cross? Do you remember? Because we went from the tabernacle, then during the time of Solomon we had the temple which was built very similarly to the tabernacle. And between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, there was a what? A veil. And this veil, that's tough to study exactly how thick it was, but a lot of people say it was about the width of a man's palm. I mean it's a thick curtain. It's woven with three different strands. It's got pictures of cherubim all over it.
What happened when Jesus Christ died on that cross? That veil was torn or it was rent from how? Not bottom to top. It's not like somebody got in there and started playing with it and started ripping and it tore from top to bottom where nobody could even touch. What was the death of Jesus signifying? Yes, I'm holy. Yes, God is holy, but I'm tearing down the separation between you and God because through my death on the cross, you can have full relationship with me. "Even though you're not holy, I can make you holy," thus says the Lord. Isn't that good news? That's what the veils and the screens were for.
Now, here's where I want to pause just for a minute. And I want you to see this because as we read through this, and some of you that are Bible scholars will probably say, "Pastor Jeff, you should have spent more time on that." I go long enough as it is. But here's what I'm going to say. If God would go through these links to talk specifically, he doesn't want 49 clasps, he wants 50 clasps. He wants acacia wood for the Ark of the Covenant built to specifications, not an inch off, not a centimeter. I want it like this. If God is that deliberate about how he's going to dwell among his people, what significance does that have for us today? Because what we see in the Old Testament is when God's dwelling among Israel, he's central in the camp so that everybody knows this is how God needs to be related to. And then as King Solomon comes along, the temple gets built and the temple is central to all of Israel's worship where God's presence dwells in the Holy of Holies.
Question. Where does God dwell today? Three of you know? Good. Well, we're going to look it up. It's in 1 Corinthians 6. I want you to see this because this is significant when we're talking about this. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul's been talking about immorality among the Corinthians, which is pretty much the entire book by the way. And then as he gets to chapter six verse 19, he says, "Or did you not know?" In other words, are you aware of this? "That your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price therefore honor God with your body."
At the moment of conversion through repentance and faith, what happens is the Holy Spirit comes into the life of every single believer to dwell with them forever. Now, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is not so you have the Holy Spirit or that you get more of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit's primary ministry is to do what? It's to glorify and magnify the resurrected Jesus. So the Holy Spirit comes in you so that you will be able to glorify and magnify the resurrected Jesus in greater and greater measure as you continue your life. So if God was this serious about the tabernacle, and if God was this serious about the temple, how serious is God about you becoming a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit who dwells in you?
I'll answer it for you. He's very serious about it. I mean, from the time I'm young, I remember when I was a kid, and maybe it's because it was who I was, parents were like, "Don't run in church. Don't say that in church. We're in church. Shh. We're in church. Don't do... " We're just in a building, y'all. Church is the place where the Spirit of God dwells in his people, which is a 24/7/365 experience with God. It means everywhere you go, are you representing him as his temple, as seriously as God was representing to Israel how he wanted to dwell? Because God's pretty serious about this. And you're going to see in this next section what God required of people that were entering his tabernacle, that all were welcome, but that God had a specific way for us to relate to him.
So the question is rhetorical, but it should be something that the Holy Spirit works on your life. Is there any time in your life this week that if I would have bumped into you or group of people would have bumped into you that you would say, "I wasn't acting like his temple here." And if so, then repent. If so, then confess. If so, then forsake. Well, I don't want to be one of those serious Christians. I just wanted to get into heaven. There's only one kind of Christian, a Christian that has the Holy Spirit, that wants to glorify God and some other aberration of something that's not that. That's what he's talking about. That's what he's going to get into here in chapter 27. So I'm just wetting your appetite and preparing you for it because God's very serious, because you are his temple. And he's way more serious when he puts you together. And he's way more serious when he saved you or if he's going to save you. He's way more serious about how you live because you are housing his presence.
Where is God? Well, he's inside the heart of every single believer. Certainly God the Father dwells in heaven and certainly Jesus his son is there with him now. And where's his Holy Spirit? He's on the earth to convict people right now of sin, righteousness and judgment. And if you're a believer, he's in your life wanting you to magnify the resurrected Jesus. Amen. So notice chapter 27 of Exodus. You guys are doing great. We're covering a ton of ground. Very few churches are going over 89 verses this morning I can promise you.
So let's talk about the bronze altar. You remember the bronze altar was in that court area that when you entered in, anybody could enter that court area. But there's a bronze altar. The first thing that's central is the bronze altar. Notice chapter 27, he goes, "And you shall make the altar of acacia wood," we've seen that a lot, "five cubits long, five cubits wide. And the altar shall be square and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horn on its four corners. It's horn shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make its pails for removing its ashes and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall make it for grading of network of bronze and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it beneath under the ledge of the altar so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. You shall make poles for the altar poles of acacia wood and overlay them with bronze. Its poles shall be inserted into the rings so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow with planks as it was shown to you on the mountain so they shall make it."
Let me give you the third principle here that God wants you to understand what the tabernacle does. The tabernacle shows us that God demands your contrition and repentance as foundational for relationship. He demands your contrition and repentance as foundational for relationship. Now, something that you may or may not have picked up on is that it seems that as God's building the temple and God's putting together the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, everything's made of acacia wood and then it's overlaid in what? Gold. Until you're in this outside place where this bronze altar is going to be or this brazen altar, which is where all of the blood sacrifice is going to take place to forgive the sin of the people and to wash away their guilt. And what's that made of? Bronze, copper, kind of bronze. I mean, utilitarian stuff. Don't make that with gold. This is for sin. This is to pay for sin. Make all the utensils of bronze, make the altar of bronze.
Anybody can enter that area. But if you're going to go further than that area, if you're going to go any further, the first step of drawing near to God is what? Contrition and repentance. It's feeling sorry for your sin and it's a desire to turn from them. That was the Old Testament. You might say, "I'm glad I live in the New Testament, brother. It's just grace today. I don't ever have to feel sorry for my sin. I don't even need to repent on my sin. I just need to trust that Jesus died on the cross." Wrong.
Now it's the kindness of the Lord that leads to repentance. John the Baptist, New Testament, came preaching, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus picked up on that. His first sermon was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Peter, when he stands after the resurrection, post-resurrected Jesus after he is ascended into heaven, first words out of his mouth, after he tells people what they needed to do, and people are feeling incredible contrition like if that's the case and we can't get to a holy God and the Savior was murdered, what do we do?
What's Peter saying? Repent. Be baptized. You'll receive the Holy Spirit. Repent. Well, what about in the church age? Church age's got to be different, not in the church age. Paul says in the book of Acts, I now command all men everywhere to what? Repent. Friends, let me tell you something because you won't hear this in a lot of places today. If there's no desire to turn from your sin, then you're not a Christian. Let me say it again because some of you didn't hear me. If there's no desire to turn from your sin, you're not a Christian. If you think, "I'm going to live in my sin, I love my sin, my sin is awesome. I want nothing to do with God. I love my sin. What do I have to do to get to heaven?" Well, you have to turn from your sin. I don't want to turn from my sin. Then you'll die in your sin. And if you die in your sin, your sin will drag you to an eternity in hell. That's a fact.
But yeah, but what about if I prayed to receive Christ at a youth camp when I was eight? Where does it say in the Bible, pray a magic prayer and you'll go to heaven? Grace is simple. Grace is clear. For the repentant, grace is right there. The greater your sin, the greater the grace. But there is no salvation apart from the shedding of blood. And the shedding of blood of Jesus was shed so that your sin would be forgiven. Now in the Old Testament, they'd sacrifice a bull, of goat, a ram, pigeons. Blood would be shed to what? Cover sin. In the New Testament, what did John the Baptist to say of Jesus? Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
Christ died what? Once for all. The righteous for the unrighteous to do what? To bring you to God. Jesus became our bronze alter. Jesus became our brazen altar. Jesus laid down his life once and for all so that anybody that came wanted to get to God would know that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, that no one else comes to the Father except through him. Which means if there's no contrition of feeling sorry for your sin and no repentance and a desire to turn from your sin, then why in the world would you need Jesus anyway? That's the question because that's what Israel needed to understand. Their only way to relate to God was through the sacrifice. And the bronze altar was for the shedding of blood.
What do we see in the New Testament? We see the crown. We see the whipping post. We see the nails and we see the cross. We see Jesus punched. We see him smacked. What's the only way to God? Repentance. If you're out there asking the question, how do I know if I'm saved? I don't even know if I'm saved anymore. I don't even know if I'm saved. Then repent. It doesn't mean get right and then come to God. It means I can't get right. So I'm telling you, God, I wish I was right, so I'm bringing you my sin because I don't want to live in it any longer. You can have it. I don't want it. I want you. That's contrition. That's repentance. And then notice this last section, this court of the tabernacle where all are welcome, but where repentance is demanded.
Verse nine says, "You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side, there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen 100 cubits long for one side and its pillars shall be 20, with their 20 sockets of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be like silver. Likewise, the north side in length there shall be hangings 100 cubits long, and its 20 pillars with their 20 sockets of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their band shall be of silver. For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of 50 cubits with their 10 pillars and with their 10 sockets. The width of the court on the east side shall be 50 cubits. The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets.
"And for the other side, there shall be hangings of 15 cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. For the gate of the court, there shall be a screen of 20 cubits of blue and purple and scarlet," there you see those colors again, "and find twisted linen, the work of a weaver with the four pillars and their four sockets. All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze. The length of the court shall be 100 cubits and the width 50 throughout and the height five cubits of fine twisted linen and their sockets of bronze. All the utensils under the tabernacle used in its service and all its pegs and all the pegs of the court shall be," of what? "Bronze."
Now notice this. "You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light to make the lamp burn brightly. In the tent of meeting outside the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his son shall keep it in order from evening till morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual statue throughout their generations for the sons of Israel." See, here's what we have to realize. God is holy. He's holy. He only welcomes people who have been cleansed. The only way to be cleansed is through the blood. If you only think that God is loving, you do not believe all the Bible. Because if you only believe God is loving you really won't believe that God punishes people in hell. You won't see the big deal of the cross like, why did Jesus have to die? He had to die or nobody could get to heaven.
And if you don't believe in the holiness of God, you've made up your own version of God. Now it's interesting here because the priests were to bring these crushed olives for oil to keep the light burning brightly. They needed an olive press. Want to fast-forward to Gethsemane for a second? You know what Gethsemane was? Gethsemane was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It was an olive press. And what you see is that here in chapter 27, we see the clear oil of beaten olives was used to make the light burn continually at Gethsemane. The purity of the beaten Christ would make light that would burn for all eternity. Amen?
This is what you see in the tabernacle. And the spirit of God is always at work. The spirit of God is always at work to bring conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. And what you see in this tabernacle, you see God's desire to dwell with his people. You see God's desire to show you, here's how I want you to worship. Worship through my word. Worship through worship. Worship through witness. Worship through prayer. Here's the way to bring me the worship I want you to bring. This is what I desire.
But here's what you need to understand and don't miss this, that without contrition and repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. There's nobody that's going to brazenly walk before God in unrepentance on judgment day and say, "Here I am. I love my sin. I lived in my sin. I didn't want anything to be with you, but I prayed a prayer. Bring me into heaven." Because you're never going to find a person like that in heaven. The only people you'll find in heaven are people that on this side of heaven said, "I don't want to be in my sin anymore. I don't want to die in my sin anymore. I know Jesus is the only way out of my sin and I'm running to him as fast as I can." Amen. That's salvation.
And two of the elements you don't see here that we'll see as we continue on is the laver which represents sanctification and the offering of incense, which the priests both helped to bring and facilitate those things that even as Christians, when we've repented and trusted Christ, that there's still those things that pop up in our hearts. And there's still the way the devil lies to us. Don't worry about that. I mean, that's not a big deal. Just keep living your life. But the spirit of God apprehends us and says, "No, no, no, not if I'm a Christian. I can't live in this sin any longer. I've got to get right with God. I've got to be clean before them. I want to live God's way."
And I want to tell you something, there's no one like our God. There's no one like our God because only our God can save. And only our God can heal and only our God can deliver and only our God can redeem. So even if you find yourself here today steeped in sin, I have great news for you. Whatever campus you're on, or if you're watching online, our God is willing to forgive all your sins. How do you know? Because the very tabernacle we just studied was found in the person of Jesus who laid down his life and fulfilled everything for us that the tabernacle did. He wants to dwell with you. He wants to show you how to worship, and he wants you to live an ongoing lifestyle of contrition and repentance. Amen.
So as I close and prayer, I'm just going to invite people on both campuses, too. I'm just going to have you stand. We'll have elders and pastors that will come forward and other people that'll be here to pray with you. But if today's the day you want to give your life to the Lord, if there's an ongoing thing in your life that the Holy Spirit showed you, make today the day that you get right with the Lord, because there's no one like our God.
Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise. Lord, thank you for showing us truths about the tabernacle you showed your people Israel to build. And thank you for sending your son Jesus who is our tabernacle, who lives and dwells in those of us who believe. And if you're not a Christian or you've never turned from your sin, here's how you can pray. Lord, I know I'm in my sin and I want to turn from my sin right now and confess you as my personal Lord and Savior. Come into my life and be my Lord today. Father, for those of us who are believers, continue to work on us. Let us seek you and pray as we sing gloriously to you, we give you all the praise in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus. Amen and amen.