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August 4, 2024 - Exodus 25-31 - Matt Yoder
All right. Well, good morning. I had a check, am I on? Okay. The privilege of going on a biking trip in May out to South Dakota in the Black Hills and there's this trail, this bike trail that runs over a hundred miles, did it over a few days. Many of you guys know Dan and Tanya Smith used to be part of our church. They moved out there a couple years or about a year ago now and so I was biking out there with my buddy Dan and having a good time and, you know, there was some wildlife on the trail at points and maybe not so wild. And so at one point I saw a creature and I'm like, man, I got to show the kids this when I get home. My phone out while I'm on the bike, which is usually not a good idea. But here I am trying to capture it as I go by. It's going to be nice because I thought it was one creature but it was a different creature. So check it out. It was a bull. And this video actually keeps going. I just spared you because I just froze because I'm like, oh, what do I do? And right behind us there was a hill, a grassy hill. So we slowly went up that hill and there was a highway, hopped on the highway and it caught up with the path later down the road and we were fine, thankfully. But that could have been really, really bad. So obviously there's like some tensions to manage when you go on a bike ride like this, right? You know, I obviously didn't have near enough kind of a healthy fear and respect for animals and wildlife on the trail or on the trail. It was a little too friendly. But I also could have had the opposite approach, right? I could have been so fearful of what was on that trail that I didn't even go for the ride because I'd be crippled by fear. So there is like tensions to manage when you do something like this. And here's what I'm getting at. There is a similar tension to manage with God. And this tension is this, God is the king of the universe. And for those who are in Christ, he is your friend. And that's not a problem to solve, that's a tension to manage. Those things are both true about God simultaneously all the time. And so we can often view God and treat God with incredible awe and respect as the king of the universe at the expense of him being our friend and forget that he's our friend, but we can do the opposite. We can really treat and view him as our close, intimate friend and forget that he is the king. And so in our passage today, as we're going to weigh through Exodus, we're going to be covering Exodus, chapters 25 to 31. So if you want to start turning there to Exodus 25, we're going to see God's plan laid out for building this tabernacle. And a tabernacle simply means tent. So this is a tent for God to dwell in, for his presence to dwell with his people. And the point of this is that God would dwell with his people both as their king, but also point to the day that he would dwell with them as their friend, which was made possible through Christ. So if you'll turn there with me, Exodus 25, and here's how I'm going to approach this today. This is obviously a lot of chapters of Scripture. And if you read them, I think you'll understand why we're covering all of them today. But I'm going to give you the summary, which really is chapter 25 verses one through nine. So if you just want to like, what are all these chapters about, they're right there. We'll read that in a second. But then I'm just going to kind of pick a few verses to hone in on. And so as I do that, if you would just follow along in a Bible app or in your Bible, that will help you. And then other references in the Bible, I'll throw up on the screen for you. And that's kind of how I'll approach it. So here's the summary, Exodus chapter 25 verses one through nine. The Lord spoke to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me. You're to take my offering from everyone who is willing to give. This is the offering you are to receive from them, gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn, fine linen and goat hair, ram skins dyed red and fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense and onyx, along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastpiece. They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them. You must make it according to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle as well as the pattern of all its furnishings. And if you really just want to summarize it, it's verse eight. There's the purpose of these chapters. They're to make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them. A few chapters later, if you'll flip over to Exodus 29, verse 45, we get more insight into God's purposes for spelling out this blueprint for this tent. So Exodus 29, verse 45, says, "I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." So we see in those verses in 25, 8, and 29, verses 45 and 46 that God's purpose for this tabernacle is that God would dwell with them, both as their king and their friend. So let's just break that apart for a second. So he's going to dwell with them. This is actually the theme throughout these chapters, but it's actually the theme throughout all of scripture. So let's go on a little journey for a second, right? So Genesis 1 and 2. Before sin enters the scene, God is dwelling with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Earlier in Exodus, he dwells with them through a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by day, leading them ahead. And then now in Exodus at this point, Moses is up on this mountain. The rest of the Israelites are at the base of the mountain, and God is dwelling with them in the form of a dark cloud above Mount Sinai, and he talks with Moses. And as they leave Sinai in Exodus and into the book of Numbers, he dwells with them through what we're going to see today, these blueprints for a tabernacle, a tent that dwelled among them. And then when they finally get to the Promised Land that God had for them in Jerusalem, they build a temple, which is essentially a permanent tabernacle for God to dwell in. And then you fast forward quite a bit, and you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and God dwells with his people through a person, Jesus Christ. And then the rest of the New Testament, Jesus dies, he rises from the dead and then he sends to heaven, and now he dwells with them, and this is true today as well. He dwells with us individually and as a church through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And one day, in Revelation we learn that when Christ returns, he is going to dwell with us in relationship for all of eternity. And there's this full circle restoration of God dwelling with his people. He dwelled with Adam and Eve in the garden, but one day he will dwell with us eternally in the eternal Eden, so to speak. And so it's this full circle story of redemption, of God dwelling with his people, living with his people. And so the purpose of this, again, is that God will dwell with them as their king and as their friend, so as their king. This says in Exodus 29.45 that we just read, actually verse 46, "I am the Lord their God." There's a couple parts to this, right? He is their Lord. He's their king, right? He's the God almighty. They are sinful, but he is holy and he's saying, "Hey, I am the king. I am your Lord and I must be treated with honor and respect, but yet he is not just the Lord." It says, "I am the Lord their God." It's personal. It's relational. Now certainly they don't get to experience him as friend like we do today, but the symbolism here in this tabernacle points to when he was dwelling with them as their friend in Eden and when he will be friends again with them when Christ comes back. He's moving towards them in relationship. He God is not a God almighty, who's up in the sky, who's king of the universe, who's stuck in his throne room all the time, that never sees any of his subjects. God is a king who's a man of the people, so to speak, and he comes and he pursues his people. And so here's how we're going to tackle this scripture this morning. We're going to get on a light rail, so to speak, if you've ever been on one of those, or a subway, or a train, kind of same experience, similar experience anyway. We're going to go on this light rail through Exodus 25 to 31, and it's going to be like we're going into the city, maybe we're starting on the suburbs, we're going into the city and we'll make a round trip and we'll come back, and on our first trip in we're going to make some stops along the way, which means I'm just going to point out some scripture that really points to God dwelling with them as king, and then on our way back we're going to make some different stops that really focus in on this tabernacle plan on how God dwells with them as their friend, and so that's where we're going. These chapters are full of detailed instructions for this tabernacle, and what this really points to is that God really deeply cares about dwelling with his people. So it would be really good for you to read through these straight through on your own, but just for the sake of time this morning I'm just going to hit some highlights. So here's our first trip through on the light rail focusing on his as him as king. So if you look at chapter 25 verse 10 and 11, 25-10, they are to make an arc of acacia wood, 45 inches long, 27 inches wide and 27 inches high, overlay it with pure gold, overlay it both inside and out, also make a gold molding all around it. So here is this arc, and it's known as the arc of the covenant, and this is like a king's throne, right? So it's covered in gold, right? And we also see a couple verses down, 25 verse 21, it says, "Set the mercy seat on top of the ark and put the tablets of the testimony that I will give you into the ark, and I will meet with you there above the mercy seat between the two cherubim, which are angels, that are over the ark of the testimony. I will speak with you from there about all that I commanded you regarding the Israelites." So he meets with Moses, he shows up in a special way there, it's his dwelling place, the Bible project, great resource, especially for the Old Testament, for all the Bible, BibleProject.com. They call this the hotspot of God's presence, and I think that's a good way to put it. God is obviously omnipresent, he's present everywhere all the time, but this is like his concentrated hotspot of his presence here in this tabernacle, and here, especially right above this ark, is where he met and talked with Moses. And if you think about it like this, where can you find a king most of the time? You can find him on his throne, and so this is like, this ark is like his throne. Next we see these curtains that have angels and colors on them that are signed to royalty pointing to him as king. So chapter 26 verse 31 is our next stop, 26-31 says, "You are to make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finally funneling in with the design of cherubim worked into it, and cherubim are angels." So you have these colors and these creatures, angels that have connotations of royalty pointing to him as king. Next we see, just a couple verses later, 26-33 it says, "Hang the curtain under the class, and bring the ark of the testimony there behind the curtain, so the curtain will make a separation for you between the holy place and the most holy place." So this is called the holy of holies. Within this tent, there is a place where that is extra special. This is like where God meets with his people. So the thing of this is like the throne room. If the ark is the throne, here is the throne room, so to speak, that has limited access. And so again, pointing to him as king. And next we see, actually throughout this scripture, as you read it, we've even seen it a little bit already, they use gold, silver, bronze, and precious stones throughout this. And the ESV study Bible points out a progression even as you move farther out from this holy of holies. They use bronze, and then you get a little closer, they're using more silver, and then you get to the holy of holies, and it's just all gold. And so this really points to God being the king. And I'm not really sure, you know, you've got the gold silver bronze. I don't know, I'm not sure if like the Olympics got their metal system from this sort of thing. Maybe they did. I don't know, you can check out Google or Gemini or whatever you use to search things these days, and tell me later if that's right or not. You know, Olympics are on my mind, and anyone watching the Olympics, by the way, anyone into that? All right. Okay, very few of you. For the few of you that do, I've been watching it, enjoy talking to the Olympics, Heather and I are kind of Olympics nuts. So anyway, but we have the gold, silver, and bronze, and precious stones pointing to him as king. The next thing we see is just these special meticulous preparations for the priests to go in and see the king. So I'm not going to point to any particular thing. But if you just skim over chapters 28 and 29, they go into really great detail about what they're to wear and how to prepare themselves. And so it was common for people to have to wear certain things and go through certain protocol to go in and see the king. And we don't really get that much today, right? We don't live in a monarchy. We don't have a king or a queen or anything like that. So I was trying to think of a modern-day equivalent, and I don't think there's any good ones, but this one's okay. I think it's something like going to a funeral, okay? When you go to a funeral, unless otherwise specified, which does happen, right? But most of the time, when you go to a funeral, you're not showing up with your bro tank on or your Hawaiian shirt, okay? And if you do, you need to stop doing that, okay? It's just not what it is expected of. You need to wear something probably dark, right? Like something black. And you need to not come, go at Hooten and Holler and go, "Yeah, a funeral!" You need to come in somber, all right? There's some funeral 101 for you, just in case you didn't know. But I think it's something like that, right? You have to get your mind and your heart and your demeanor in a right spot to go to a funeral as well as your clothing. And that's what these priests had to do. And so this is pointing to the fact that, you know, if you're going to go in and see a king, you've got to approach him correctly. And so that's what's going on with this tabernacle and all of the details of it. God is king and he's dwelling with them as king. So there's our first trip. We got into the city. We're going to go back out now on the light rail and we're going to see glimpses of God dwelling with them as their friend. And so if you jump back to chapter 25 with me, chapter 25 verse 22, 25-22, does I will meet with you there above the mercy seat between the two chairmen that are over the ark of the testimony and I will speak with you from there about all that I commanded you regarding the Israelites? So that's what friends do, right? You spend time with one another, you speak, you have conversations, right? I mean, really great friendships often, you don't even need anything to do per se. You're just together talking, right? And that's enough. See, that's what's going on here. God is meeting and speaking with them, pointing to him as their friend. Next we see that God's tabernacle was actually with the Israelites tabernacle. Again, tabernacle just means dwelling place and the Israelites dwelling places were tense. They were nomads at this point, wandering through the desert, making their way to the promised land. And so God sets his tent in the middle of theirs. It's like he intentionally moved in next door to their neighbors. I remember one time Heather and I considered selling our house and buying another house because it was next right next door to our friend's house. And it just didn't end up comparing to what we already had so we didn't end up doing it. But why didn't we even consider it really heavily because it was next to our friends, right? We wanted to be closer to them. And so God is doing the same thing. He's moving in because he is their God. He is their friend. He's moving towards them. See God even has in this tabernacle set up a dining room, so to speak, for him and them. So if you look at chapter 25 verse 23 now, just the next verse, Tazir to construct a table of acacia wood, 36 inches long, 18 inches wide and 27 inches high, overlay it with pure gold and make it golden molding all around it, make a three inch frame all around it and make a golden molding for it all around its frame. Make four gold rings for it and attach the rings to the four corners of its four legs. The rings should be next to the frame as holders for the poles to carry the table. Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold and the table can be carried by them. You are also to make its plates and cups as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings and make them out of pure gold. Put the bread of the presents on the table before me at all times. So do you see the dining room imagery here? You got a table, plates, cups, pitchers, bowls. There's a drink offering, there's a bread of the presents. These things represent drinks and food, a meal for God. It's like God moving in among them and inviting them over for dinner, dwelling with them as his people, as his friend. Next we see, jump over a few chapters to chapter 31. This is a really unique part of this scripture. So God gives individuals his spirit and he gives individuals wisdom for even building this tabernacle, which is quite fascinating. So chapter 31, 1 through 6. The Lord also spoke to Moses, "Look, I have appointed by name Bezelel, son of Yuri, son of her of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with God's spirit, with wisdom, understanding and ability in every craft to design artistic works in gold, silver and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting in the carved wood for work in every craft. I have also selected O'Hilai'ab, son of Hisimak of the tribe of Dan, to be with him. I have put wisdom in the heart of every skilled artisan in order to make all that I have commanded you." So, here's kind of a shout out to blue collar workers. You see that? Like in the Old Testament, God gives specific individuals his holy spirit, and you actually see this at kind of, I don't know, strange, but kind of random points throughout the Old Testament. He'll give people his spirit for very specific tasks, for a very specific time, for a very specific purpose. And so, one of those was building this tabernacle, and he even calls these guys by name. So I remember, I remember one time I was on a missions trip, and every morning, someone on the team would do a devotion. They'd open up a scripture and get us encouraged and ready to go for what we were doing. And we were putting a roof on a house, and how I ended up leading the team, roofing, we'll never know, but we did it. And there we are, and someone was doing the devotion, and they opened at Exodus 31, one to six, and read it, and I'm like, "What? Where are they going with this? Like, good on you if you're going to Exodus, but what are we doing?" And they just, it was really encouraging, actually. They really fired us up for the day, like, "Hey, if God called people by name and filled them with the spirit then to build something, how much more will He not do that for us today as we go out to build it?" And they were like, "Yeah, let's go roof, it was pretty sweet." But I love this, because God gives individuals a little bit of His wisdom, a little bit of His power, and it's like He's just drawing them in personally. He calls them by name. He knows their names. He knows how to pronounce their names. I don't really know how to pronounce their names, thankfully God does, but you just don't see that. You don't see that much, especially in the Old Testament, Him just like calling people by name and just filling them with the spirit, and I just think this is a really incredible way that God is just drawing them in as friends. But I think the most poignant way that God uses the details of this tabernacle to draw them in His friends is actually by having them make this tabernacle resemble the garden of Eden. Now, the garden of Eden, before sin, God is dwelling with Adam and Eve, and it's beautiful. It's heaven on earth. And as you guys see, the striking resemblance is to Eden that I'm going to point out to you. I want you to just let them point you to the fact that God is drawing them near as friends and pointing forward to the ultimate goal and reality of friendship with God in the new Eden. Heaven. Again, the Bible project, they said it better than I could. They said there's a lot of detail in these chapters, but it's important to know that every part has a symbolic value. All of the flowers, angels, gold, and jewels call back to the garden of Eden, the place where God and humans live together in intimacy. In other words, the tabernacle is a portable Eden where God and Israel can live together in peace. So I love looking at it this way. So let's start by going back to Eden, and then I'll draw the lines to how the tabernacle is like it. So I have this on the screen for you, Genesis 2, 8 to 15. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing an appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pichon, which flows through the entire land of Havala, where there is gold, gold from that land is pure, delium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Kush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. So there's Eden. Now here's where we see glimpses of Eden in this tabernacle in Exodus 25 to 31. The first one is the gold, right? It's all over the place in this tabernacle and pure gold is found. We just saw it in Genesis 2, 12. We also see with onyx in Exodus 28, 9, says take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of Israel's sons, and then here in Genesis 2, 12, we see onyx in the garden. Next we see in Exodus 25, 18, he says, "Make two cherubim of gold," and those are to be on top of the ark where God meets with them. And I think this is fascinating because angels or cherubim are guarding the entrance in Eden. So if you go to Genesis 3, 24, Adam and Eve sinned, got banished from the garden, angels are keeping them from going back in, but now we see angels are placed right where God is dwelling with his people. It's a beautiful picture pointing back to Eden. God is making a way for them to come back in relationship with him. Next we see this lampstand. So in Exodus 25, verse 31, we see this really detailed explanation of this lampstand. 25, 31, you are to make a lampstand out of pure hammered gold is to be made of one piece. It's base and shaft, it's ornamental cups and it's buds and it's petals. Six branches are to extend from its sides. Three branches of the lampstand from one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other side. There to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a bud and petals on one branch and three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a bud and petals on the next branch. And it's to be this way for the six branches that extend from the lampstand. So as you heard that, and just to kind of keep you awake because I know we're going through a lot of like details, there's 37 inches, here's three inches, here's a lot of stuff on a lampstand, anybody, what's this pointing to, what's this pointing to in the Garden of Eden? The tree, yeah, the tree of life that was in the middle of you, you have these almond blossoms, you have these branches, right? So again, pointing to Eden. Next we have in Exodus 28 verse 1, it says, "Have your brother Aaron and his sons come to you from Israelites to serve me as priests." Aaron, his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. So we have these priests, well Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were interacting with God just like these priests did, except in Eden they could interact freely because there was no sin separating them then. But we see the priests pointing back to the Garden. We also see hints of fruit. In Exodus 28, 33 it makes a reference to pomegranates, it says to make pomegranates a blue purple and scarlet yarn on its lower hem, it's talking about this wardrobe that Aaron was to wear, the high priest when he goes in to meet with God and has pomegranates on him. Well we see in Exodus, or sorry, in Genesis 2 verse 9, fruit, good fruit for food. And so there's actually a lot more that I could point out, but I'm going to stop there for today, but hopefully you saw these striking resemblances of Eden. And I'm just hoping to just point you to the fact that God is drawing them near as friends and pointing forward to the ultimate goal in reality of friendship with God forever in the new Eden. And just to assure you that this isn't just like an idea that I got from the Bible project or that I'm just drawing lines from Eden to the tabernacle to heaven, I want to show you that it actually does in the New Testament. So Hebrews 8 verse 5 says, "These serve as a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things as Moses was worn when he was about to complete the tabernacle." For God said, "Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain." Well what is he quoting at the end of that verse? He's quoting in Exodus 25, 40. So the tabernacle and the specifics of this tabernacle it says are a copy and a shadow of heaven. God is making it clear that his intentions behind this tabernacle are actually to draw them back to himself in relationship and friendship. Okay, there is my best attempt at explaining seven chapters about a lot of details about a tent. There's a lot more in there, dive into it yourself. Let's bring this to 2024 today, okay? I have a question that I want you to think about. This actually would be a great question to think about and to maybe even interact with over lunch today, even with your family, even with kids, you could do this. So the question is this, what do you view God and treat God more as? A king or a friend? What do you view God? What do you tend to view and treat God in your daily life more as? The king of the universe or the friend of your soul? Psalm 25, 14 is a verse that's really, I've pondered on and prayed through a lot and it sticks in my mind here today. And it says this, Psalm 25, 14, the secret counsel or the ESV says the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he reveals his covenant to them. So we see both in perfect balance here. God as friend, the friendship of the Lord, the secret counsel of the Lord belongs to those who fear him, those who revere him as king. And so God reveals his covenant, his promises to who, to those who revere him and fear him as their king, but yet also interact with him as a close friend. So again, do you view God and treat God more as a king or as a friend? And if you're not really sure, and it probably changes from day to day or even season of life, I bet it shifts for you if you're anything like me. But some questions, just get you thinking about this. Do you way too easily downplay and dismiss sin in your life? Then you probably need to view him more as your king. On the other hand, though, do you have a hard time forgiving yourself after you've confessed and repented of your sin and God clearly has forgiven you? Do you have a hard time still forgiving yourself, then you probably need to view him more as your friend? Or do you find yourself asking or only asking for stuff from God in your prayers? You're just, you know, God's just kind of the gumball machine. Put the quarter in, I want something, I want something, I want something, then you probably need to view him more as the king. Or do you find yourself not being very honest with God in your prayers? If you find yourself there, you need to start viewing him more as your friend. Again, great lunch discussion today. Do you view God and treat God more as a king or as a friend? And as I started this message with, this isn't a problem to solve in your relationship with God. This is attention to manage. He is the king. He is your friend. So I want to end today with some real hope. I want to end by reading about the new Eden, heaven. I want to read about when we're going to dwell with our king and our friend forever. And I really hope as I read this, this just encourages your heart and fills you with hope today. You know, we're about to sing a couple songs that really focus in on Jesus being present and our suffering, Jesus being present and our struggle, Jesus being present, even in our struggles mentally, emotionally. And so as I read this, I just wanted this to encourage your heart. I know every Sunday, we all walk in here with different weights on our shoulders. Right? All of us are facing different things in life. And you may come in here today and life might be going great. But you probably still have some things and at the very least, you're waiting for something today. And I know that because Christ hasn't returned, you're waiting for him to come back. But my guess is all of us in here have something going on that's just really weighing us down. Or we just have some sin that we're just caught in that would just want to be free, but can't quite get free of it. And I just want you to be encouraged by the hope of the new Eden. And then really let, I really think, yes, we got in the scripture, we had a good time here today, but I wonder if even the best is yet to come for us this morning as we sing these nice couple worship songs. I think God has something for your heart today as we do that. But first, let's dive into Revelation 21. Let this just, let this just settle on your weary heart and soul today. Revelation 21 verse 1, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne, "Look, God's dwelling is with humanity and He will live with them. They will be His peoples and God Himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Can you imagine? Death will be no more. Grief, crying, and pain will be no more because the previous things have passed away." Look at verse 22, "I did not see a temple or a tabernacle for the matter in it because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple and tabernacle. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it because the glory of God illuminates it and its lamp is the lamb. That will be the day. That will be the day when God dwells with us perfectly, both as our King and as our friend. Come Lord Jesus, let's pray. Jesus, we just can't wait for that day. We live in a world with so much suffering and so much pain and so much sin, Lord, that we just forget about the end a lot. We forget the fact that you are going to come and make everything right again and make all things new. So Jesus, we're pumped, we're excited. So Lord, what we're excited, we live in a reality that's hard and harsh and so I pray Jesus as we sing these songs that you administer right to our hearts, whatever we're walking through, whatever we're dealing with, Lord, you know what's going on in our mind and in our souls here this morning. So we just beg you by the power of the Spirit to come and minister to our hearts, Lord, because we desperately need you, come Lord Jesus, meet with us in a unique way today and give us a foretaste of that new Eden. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]