WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.779 Well, please turn in your Bibles back to Exodus chapter 25, and we're going to look at verses 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:17.100 ! 1 to 9 and some other chapters later on in Exodus as well. I should pass on my greetings from Jackie 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:22.480 ! and the children to you. They had very specific people they wanted me to pass on their warmest 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:27.920 regards and IPC Ealing was one of them. So, send you greetings from Jackie and the children. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:36.840 So, let's look at Exodus chapter 25 and verses 1 to 9, and as we come to God's Word, let me pray for 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:43.880 us again. Father, in your light we see light, and so we pray that you would come now and by your Holy 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:50.060 Spirit illuminate the preaching of your Word so that we would see Jesus more clearly, love him more 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:57.000 dearly, and follow him more nearly. And we ask this in his name, who lives and reigns with you and the 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.420 Holy Spirit, one God forever praised. Amen. 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:12.000 A home says something about the person who lives in it or the people who live in it. A home says 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:19.819 something about the person who lives in it or the people who live in it. My sister-in-law's home is 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:29.599 decorated with bright and colorful colors, cheerful colors. For example, her kitchen is bright blue walls 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:35.899 with yellow and pink bunting hanging from the ceiling, and that's because Angela is a bright 00:01:35.899 --> 00:01:44.679 and cheerful person. My parents' home has a sign on the front door that says Karibu, which is Swahili 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:50.420 for welcome. Inside the house are souvenirs and ornaments from various parts of the world, 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:59.120 Tanzania and Kenya, where they have lived, China and India and Canada, where they visited. My parents 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:07.800 are well-traveled, well-cultured people who love to welcome people into their home. A home says 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:15.060 something about the person who lives in it or the people who live in it. And it's the same when it 00:02:15.060 --> 00:02:24.840 comes to God's home in Exodus. Here in Exodus chapter 25, God gives Moses instructions about a home that He 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:33.039 wants Moses to build for him. And the layout and materials, the fabrics and the furniture, the oils 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:41.859 and the incense, all of it says something about the God who lives in it. Now, if we're honest, 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:49.239 when we get to this part of Exodus, we tend to skip over it in our yearly Bible readings or our eyes glaze 00:02:49.239 --> 00:02:56.180 over it because it is quite hard going, all these details about the tabernacle. But I remember years 00:02:56.180 --> 00:03:03.200 ago hearing one of my favorite Old Testament commentators, Alec Mateer, say, if a certain part 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:10.400 of the Bible is boring you, then God is trying to tell you something. If a certain part of the Bible 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:16.460 is boring you, then God is trying to tell you something. And let's be honest, these tabernacle 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:24.879 instructions can be a wee bit boring. But that's the point. God's trying to tell us something. 00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:32.240 The details about the tabernacle are not meant to bore us. They're meant to awe us. They're meant to 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:40.060 awe us with who God is because His tabernacle home says something about who He is and what He's like. 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:48.020 And I think from this chapter and this section on the tabernacle in Exodus 25 to 40, we can see four 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:57.080 things about God. Four things. Here's the first. God is King. God is King. Just look again at the 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:05.480 materials that God wants Moses to use in building a home for Him. Verse 3, gold, silver, and bronze, 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:13.379 blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, goat's hair, and tanned ram skins, goat skins, 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:22.819 acacia wood. These materials and fabrics listed here were materials and fabrics fit for a king. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:27.159 Now, you may be asking, well, how do they have it when they're in the middle of the wilderness? 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.459 Well, they acquired them the night they left Egypt. The Egyptians were actually giving them gold and silver 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:38.799 and some of these materials. So, that's why they're in possession of them in the middle of the 00:04:38.799 --> 00:04:45.620 wilderness. And God wants Moses to use these materials to make a tent for him that is fit 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:54.139 for a king. A tent fit for a king. But it's not just the materials that reflect his royalty. 00:04:54.799 --> 00:05:01.500 It's also the layout and the furniture. The layout of this tabernacle complex was quite simple. There were 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:07.720 three main areas. There was the courtyard, a big, large, rectangular space. And then there was the 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:14.259 tabernacle, which was divided into two rooms. The first room you walked into was called the holy place. 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:21.040 And then you walked into a second room through a big veil, and that was called the most holy place, 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:29.500 or the holy of holies. And that room was like God's throne room. As we'll see in a moment, this is where 00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:36.639 the Ark of the Covenant was situated. Now, boys and girls, if you've ever seen Indiana Jones and 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:41.879 Raiders of the Lost Ark, okay, that's the Ark of the Covenant that that movie's based on. It's this 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:50.639 Ark of the Covenant. It was placed in the holy of holies. And it was symbolizing God's throne. In fact, 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:58.019 one of the passages in 1 Chronicles calls the Ark of the Covenant God's footstool on earth. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:05.279 The inner lining of the room was made of blue and purple and scarlet yarns with cherubim embroidered 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:11.819 into it. So if you picture it, here was this Ark of the Covenant in the holy of holies. It was like 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:18.779 God enthroned in the midst of the cherubim in the heavens with his footstool touching the earth. 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:27.939 So the layout and materials, the fabrics and the furniture, convey that this was no ordinary tent. 00:06:28.039 --> 00:06:36.339 It was a royal tent. The king would be in residence here. You can hopefully see that the details are not 00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:43.659 meant to bore us, right? They're meant to awe us. This is the king's residence. God was setting up 00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:50.180 his royal residence in the midst of Israel. That's the first thing God's tabernacle tells us about 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:58.300 himself. God is king. Number two, God is present. God is present. Look at verse 8. 00:06:58.820 --> 00:07:03.560 And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:10.079 That's actually what the word tabernacle in verse 9 literally means, a dwelling place. 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:17.519 God's tabernacle is his dwelling place. Now, I know that's quite obvious. God's tent is his dwelling 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:24.060 place, which means God is present. But we need to see the significance of that statement in the story 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:31.860 line of the Bible, because this is a historic moment in redemptive history for Israel. This is an epoch 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:39.860 defining moment in the history of Israel. Just think back to the Garden of Eden, where God would walk 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:46.160 with Adam in the garden. Do you remember? Eden was where God lived with Adam and Eve in a bounded, 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:57.840 holy space. But after the fall, God has only ever said to speak to people or to appear to them. But here 00:07:57.840 --> 00:08:05.560 in Exodus, he comes to dwell with his people, with Noah, with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, even with 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:12.560 Moses. God has never said to dwell with them. Some of them are said, like Noah and Enoch, to walk with God. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:20.100 But it never says that God came down to dwell with them like he did with Adam. After the fall, 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:29.240 God only ever appears, speaks, and then disappears. But now look what he's promising. He's promising to 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:38.080 come and dwell permanently with his people. This is a significant moment in redemptive history. No more 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:47.280 intermittent appearance. Now only permanent presence. And this is, in fact, the whole purpose 00:08:47.280 --> 00:08:59.759 of the Exodus. If you jump forward to chapter 29 and verse 45, chapter 29 and verse 45 and 46, here we see 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:06.060 the purpose of the tabernacle. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God, and they 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:13.359 shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell 00:09:13.359 --> 00:09:20.199 among them. Do you see that? Do you see the whole point of the Exodus is so that God would dwell with 00:09:20.199 --> 00:09:27.500 his people. God redeems his people out of slavery, rescuing them from the judgment of death and the 00:09:27.500 --> 00:09:33.779 oppression of the oppression of the enemy, so that he might live with them, so that he might dwell with 00:09:33.779 --> 00:09:42.539 them. This is why Exodus chapter 25 to 40 is not the appendix to the book of Exodus. It is the climax, as one 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:51.019 scholar has put. It's not the appendix. It's the climax of the book. The tabernacle is the climax of God's 00:09:51.019 --> 00:09:59.259 redemptive purpose in the Exodus. He rescues his people in order to dwell with his people. And this 00:09:59.259 --> 00:10:08.059 is underscored by each of the pieces of furniture mentioned in chapter 25 from verse 10 onwards. We 00:10:08.059 --> 00:10:17.439 have first the Ark of the Covenant, verses 10 to 22. The Ark of the Covenant. This was a rectangular box, 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:25.540 wooden box made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. And the lid was made of pure gold. There 00:10:25.540 --> 00:10:32.840 was no wood in the lid, unlike the box. And there were cherubim molded into the lid with their wings 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:39.500 coming forward, touching each other as they looked down upon this lid. It was called the mercy seat. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:46.600 It was where the blood of the sacrifice would be later sprinkled. As I mentioned earlier, 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:52.740 the Ark of the Covenant symbolized God's footstool on earth. It was like his throne, 00:10:53.300 --> 00:11:01.200 where his feet would touch the earth from the Ark of the Covenant. It was the meeting place between God 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:08.960 and man. It was the access point between heaven and earth. It was where God would speak with Moses 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:18.920 in the tabernacle. It symbolized his presence with his people. There was a second piece of furniture that did that, 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:26.519 and that's in verses 23 to 30. That's the table of the bread of presence. This was a wooden table, again, 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:34.639 made of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold. And on it were 12 loaves of bread, symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:40.699 And the loaves was a reminder that God had been present with his people in the wilderness, 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:48.399 providing them with manna from heaven, the bread from heaven. It was called the bread of presence, 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:54.539 and it would sit on the table. It also symbolized God's presence with his people. 00:11:54.539 --> 00:12:04.279 And then third, in verses 31 to 40, we have the lampstand. This was a seven-branched lampstand made 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:11.939 of pure gold. It had three branches on either side with a central stem. It had almond blossom cups 00:12:11.939 --> 00:12:18.579 on the end of each branch to hold the oil, and therefore it looked like a tree, reminded Israel 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:27.280 of the tree of life. And it was lit. The oil was lit with fire all day, every day. For 24 hours a day, 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:36.620 it was lit. It symbolized the life and light of God's presence with his people. The table and the 00:12:36.620 --> 00:12:42.640 lampstand were placed in the holy place, in the first room of the tabernacle, on the other side of the 00:12:42.640 --> 00:12:47.660 veil from the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was. The table was placed on the north, 00:12:47.659 --> 00:12:53.539 and the lampstand on the south. And these three pieces of furniture, the Ark of the Covenant, 00:12:54.059 --> 00:13:00.679 the table of the bread of presence, and the lampstand, they all symbolized what was at the heart 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:10.299 of this home for God, and that was his presence with his people. And it was not just an intermittent 00:13:10.299 --> 00:13:16.259 presence, remember. It was permanent. And even so, when they traveled through the wilderness, 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:24.460 these pieces of furniture were taken with them. The priests carried them. And so again, we're meant 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:33.100 to see that these details are not meant to bore us, but to awe us. God the King was coming to dwell with 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:40.080 his people and to travel with his people as they made their way through the wilderness. Since the fall 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:45.400 with Adam, God had not dwelt with his people like this. He had only ever appeared and disappeared, 00:13:45.400 --> 00:13:53.220 but now he was moving into the neighborhood, into the vicinity, moving into the street, so to speak, 00:13:53.800 --> 00:14:01.740 and permanently so. This is the second thing we see from God's tent. God is King. Second, God is present. 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:11.940 Number three, God is holy. God is holy. Look again at chapter 25, verse 8. 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:19.779 And let them make me a sanctuary. Literally, let them make me a holy place. 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:29.419 The tabernacle meant a dwelling place. Sanctuary meant a holy place. This word sanctuary, it's only used 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:38.139 twice in Exodus here, chapter 25, verse 8, and also back in the Song of Moses in chapter 15, verse 17. 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:49.699 But the root word holy occurs 75 times in Exodus, and nearly always in relation to the tabernacle. 00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:56.659 The rooms in the tabernacle, do you remember their names? The holy place, the holy of holies, 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:03.819 the most holy place. The garments for the priests, they were called holy garments. Aaron was to wear a 00:15:03.819 --> 00:15:12.259 turban with a golden plate on it, with the words engraved, holy to the Lord. It would be a holy 00:15:12.259 --> 00:15:20.259 crown on his head. Aaron and his sons were to be consecrated, which is the verb from which we get 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:34.259 the noun or adjective holy. God promised to sanctify the whole tabernacle complex by his glory. The altar 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:43.939 of incense was said to be most holy to the Lord. And Moses was to make a holy anointing oil with which 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:51.120 he was to sanctify everything in the tabernacle. You can't read these chapters and not get the point 00:15:51.120 --> 00:16:00.900 that this home of God's was holy. This was a holy place. And the reason why it was a holy place 00:16:00.900 --> 00:16:08.360 is because it was based on a design from another world, from heaven. Look at verse 9. 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:15.620 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all of its furniture, 00:16:16.419 --> 00:16:24.680 so you shall make it. Why did Moses have to follow the pattern exactly? Why was there no human 00:16:24.680 --> 00:16:31.480 ingenuity or creativity in the design of this tabernacle? Because it was not an earthly tabernacle. 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:40.320 It was a heavenly tabernacle. It was supposed to replicate, be a copy of the archetypal home of God 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:49.120 in heaven. That's why Moses had to follow it exactly as God had revealed it. It was a tent from another 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:57.279 world. It was a tabernacle from heaven. Because God doesn't live here. He lives in heaven. And so his 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:07.359 home should represent what heaven looked like. His home should be holy. But herein lies the tension. 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:17.240 God is king. God is present. The king is in residence here. So good, so far. But now God's holiness 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:26.559 creates a problem. We might say that his holiness hinders rather than helps at this point. Because God, 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:35.539 the king may dwell with his people, but his people can't get to meet him. God is holy, but they are 00:17:35.539 --> 00:17:43.299 unholy, as the golden calf incident in chapters 32 to 34 makes abundantly clear. So what's the point 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:51.440 then of God, the holy king, coming to dwell with his people if his people never get to meet him? 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:58.580 The tension is reflected in the terminology that's used for talking about God's tent. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:07.500 In chapter 25, verse 8 to chapter 27, verse 19, Moses mainly uses the word tabernacle. Remember? 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:15.360 Dwelling place. But from chapter 27, verse 20, through to chapter 30, verse 38, he switches the 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:20.859 terminology and only ever uses the word tent of meeting. So for the first few chapters on this 00:18:20.859 --> 00:18:29.079 section, tabernacle. And then at the end of chapter 27, tent of meeting. The shift in terminology brings 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:35.819 us to the heart of this tabernacle complex. It was meant to be a place not just for God to dwell with 00:18:35.819 --> 00:18:44.379 his people, but for his people, but for his people to meet with him. It was not just a dwelling place. It was to be a 00:18:44.379 --> 00:18:52.099 meeting place between God and his people. That was the climax of the book of Exodus. And yet, if you think about it, 00:18:53.460 --> 00:19:02.579 it's an anti-climax, right? Because they don't get to meet with him. Because the place is holy, because it's God's 00:19:02.579 --> 00:19:12.279 royal dwelling place that is set apart, sanctified. Israel can't go in. God has come close, and then he shut 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:23.519 the front door. Do not enter. So what's the point in this whole tabernacle sanctuary complex if God's people 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:31.919 can never get in? If they can never meet with him? Reminds me of the time I was catching up with an old 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:40.440 school friend back in Belfast, Clarkie. He was the sort of guy at school who could sell snow to an Eskimo. 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:46.820 And he was brilliant with words, could sell you anything. And after university, doing an engineering 00:19:46.820 --> 00:19:53.259 degree, he decided to go into construction. And he made it big very quickly. He became a multi-millionaire 00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:58.840 within a few years. And I caught up with him about 10 years after his business had been going. And he told 00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:06.399 me that he had just bought a huge country estate in Scotland. True story. He'd bought it, this old heritage 00:20:06.399 --> 00:20:13.279 country estate, and he was going to build houses on it. And he said to me, he says, you'll never guess who my next 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:22.899 door neighbor is. And I said, well, who is it? He said, Prince Charles. I said, you're joking me. He says, honestly, 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:29.740 Prince Charles is my next door neighbor. And when I heard that, I only had one question for him. 00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:40.420 Have you ever met him? Have you ever met him? He said, no, never met him. And I thought to myself, 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:47.980 well, what's the point in living right beside Prince Charles if you never meet him? You might as well live 00:20:47.980 --> 00:20:58.620 beside Prince Joe blogs. It makes no difference. And what's the point in God, the King of Heaven, coming to dwell 00:20:58.620 --> 00:21:08.279 with his people, Israel in the wilderness, if they never get to meet him? What's the point? And that is the tension 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:17.700 in this whole tabernacle story in Exodus. God, the great King of Heaven, the Holy King of Heaven, has come to dwell with 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:28.080 his people, but they can't get in. Well, there's a fourth thing we see about this tabernacle, which shows 00:21:28.080 --> 00:21:37.440 us that they do eventually get in. God is King. God is present. God is holy. And number four, God is 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:47.580 gracious. God is gracious. Exodus chapter 27 to 30. We see this through three more pieces of furniture. 00:21:47.700 --> 00:21:56.220 The altar connected to the tabernacle, connected to the tabernacle priests. The ark, the table, the lampstand, 00:21:56.299 --> 00:22:01.600 do you remember what they symbolized? God's permanent presence with his people. But here, 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:10.360 in chapters 27 and 30, we're introduced to three more pieces of furniture, each connected to making God's 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:21.179 holy royal dwelling place, a meeting place. The bronze altar, chapter 27, verses 1 to 8. This was the altar 00:22:21.179 --> 00:22:29.359 used for sacrifices, which was placed inside the courtyard at the entrance. It was on the path to the entrance 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:37.500 to the tent of meeting. The sacrifices on the bronze altar were linked to meeting with God at the tent of 00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:46.740 meeting. If you glance forward to chapter 29 and verse 38. Chapter 29 and verse 38. Here's some of the 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:52.500 instructions about offering sacrifices on a daily basis on the bronze altar in the courtyard. 00:22:54.380 --> 00:23:02.140 29 verse 38. Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs, a year old, by day regularly. 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:08.900 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. And then skip 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:15.680 down to verse 42. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:23.120 of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. 00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:31.020 These were the morning and evening sacrifices. They were offered on the bronze altar, and it was there 00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:36.539 when the sacrifice would be offered in the morning at nine o'clock and at three o'clock in the afternoon. 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:43.980 That is when God would meet with his people. So what's the lesson? It is that any meeting with this 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:52.599 holy king of heaven is predicated on sacrifice. Do you want to meet with him? You can, but you got to bring 00:23:52.599 --> 00:24:03.219 a sacrifice. The second piece of furniture is mentioned in chapter 30 verses 1 to 10. Chapter 30 verses 1 to 10. 00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:12.379 This is the golden altar of incense. This was placed inside the tabernacle in the first room, the holy place, 00:24:12.699 --> 00:24:20.099 just in front of the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. And Aaron was to burn 00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:26.980 fragrant incense on this golden altar in the morning at nine o'clock at the same time that the sacrifice 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:32.480 was being made on the bronze altar out in the courtyard, and in the evening, three o'clock at the 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:36.799 same time that the burnt sacrifice was being made on the bronze altar out in the courtyard. 00:24:37.699 --> 00:24:45.279 The idea was that the incense in the tabernacle was to be a sweet, pleasing aroma to God as it rose up 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:53.859 into his presence on the other side of the veil in the holy of holies. Again, notice the placement of 00:24:53.859 --> 00:25:01.619 the altar of incense, chapter 30 verse 6. And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the 00:25:01.619 --> 00:25:09.879 ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you. 00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:16.980 Do you see how the altar of incense is connected to meeting with God? This was the closest the priest 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:22.700 would come to the presence of God as they ministered in the holy place on a daily basis. 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:29.780 So we have the bronze altar. We have the golden altar of incense. And then in between, 00:25:30.520 --> 00:25:39.860 there is a third piece of furniture out in the courtyard again, the bronze basin, chapter 30 verse 17 to 00:25:39.859 --> 00:25:47.319 21. This was placed out in the courtyard between the bronze altar and the entrance to the tent of 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:53.919 meeting. It was where the priest would wash themselves before they went into the most holy place for their 00:25:53.919 --> 00:26:05.859 daily duties. So we have three pieces of furniture, the bronze altar, the bronze basin, the golden altar of 00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:12.579 incense. And if you can picture it, they are all on the same axis. They're all on the same line from the 00:26:12.579 --> 00:26:20.019 entrance of the courtyard through the entrance to the holy place right to right in front of the entrance to 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:27.699 the holy of holies. They were actually all on the same line as the ark of the covenant behind the veil. 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:35.039 In other words, if you wanted to meet with God in the holy of holies at the ark of the covenant, 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:42.319 you had to go through these three pieces of furniture. You had to offer a sacrifice at the altar. Your 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:49.399 priest had to cleanse himself, and then he had to go in and offer incense on the golden altar. This was 00:26:49.399 --> 00:26:59.279 part of the process of meeting with God. Now look back at chapters 28 and 29. We've looked at chapter 27 on the 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:05.759 bronze altar. Chapter 30 about the golden altar of incense and the bronze basin. But look what's in 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:12.720 between those two chapters. Just in your Bibles, look at the headings. The priest's garments, the priest's 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:22.119 clothing, and then chapter 29, the consecration of the priests. The clothing and the consecration of the 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:31.799 priests. So putting chapters 27, 28, 29, 30 together, here's what we see. If you want to meet the holy 00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:39.639 king of heaven, you need two things. You need a sacrifice, and you need a priest. You need a sacrifice, 00:27:40.199 --> 00:27:45.759 and you need a priest. Because if you think about it, there are really two hindrances to meeting with 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:52.000 this holy king. There is the hindrance of our sin, and there is the hindrance of separation, the veils, 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:58.980 the curtains. The people are sinful, and therefore they're separated from God by curtains and screens 00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:06.200 and a veil. Sin and separation, those are the two problems that stop the tent of dwelling becoming a 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:15.619 tent of meeting. But both are overcome by sacrifice and a priest. The sacrifice overcomes the problem of 00:28:15.619 --> 00:28:23.139 sin. The priest overcomes the problem of separation. And all of this comes about by the gracious 00:28:23.139 --> 00:28:33.219 provision of God, the king who dwells in his tabernacle. People don't deserve it. The golden 00:28:33.219 --> 00:28:39.859 calf incident in chapters 32 and 34 will show us that. They are a sinful people who rebel against God, 00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:47.939 and yet God creates a way for sinful, rebellious people to come and meet with him through a sacrifice 00:28:47.939 --> 00:28:58.479 and a priest. Why? Because that's the kind of God he is. He's a gracious God. A home says something 00:28:58.479 --> 00:29:05.159 about the person who lives in it. And this home has shown us that God is king, God is present, 00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:14.860 God is holy, and God is gracious. Now you may be thinking, okay, Johnny, thanks very much for the 00:29:14.860 --> 00:29:21.480 Old Testament history lesson. Very interesting. But what on earth is the relevance for us this evening 00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:29.980 here in 2023? We know the tabernacle at Sinai eventually became the temple on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:39.620 and that temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. And even though it was rebuilt in 515 BC by 00:29:39.620 --> 00:29:47.400 Ezra with the exiles who returned, and then it was expanded by great King Herod just before Jesus was 00:29:47.400 --> 00:29:56.779 born. We know it was destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. The only thing that remains of that temple 00:29:56.779 --> 00:30:04.279 is the Western Wall in Jerusalem, which you might see on the news where the devout Jews go and they pray 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:10.619 in front of the wall. They put their little prayers on pieces of paper and push them through the mortar 00:30:10.619 --> 00:30:18.019 between the bricks on that wall. So what's the relevance of this part of the Bible for us today 00:30:18.019 --> 00:30:27.180 if that's all that's left of God's dwelling place on earth? Well, look back again at chapter 25 verse 9. 00:30:28.779 --> 00:30:34.240 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all of its furniture, 00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:42.480 so you shall make it. Do you remember what we saw? The relevance of that verse was that Moses had to 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:50.480 make this tabernacle exactly as God directed him because it was a copy of God's tabernacle in heaven, 00:30:50.900 --> 00:30:59.519 of God's original home. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 5 tells us that the earthly tabernacle was just a copy 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:08.779 of God's home in heaven. So while the tabernacle on earth is no more, while the temple in Jerusalem 00:31:08.779 --> 00:31:19.700 is no more, God's heavenly tabernacle still remains. God is still in heaven in his original home. 00:31:20.639 --> 00:31:29.819 And we are still here on earth. And God has not changed. He's still calling sinners, people like you and me, 00:31:29.859 --> 00:31:37.759 to come and meet with him because that's the kind of God he is. There's none that seek after God, no, not one. 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:45.940 But there is one God who seeks after sinners. All the way through the Bible, God seeks after sinners. 00:31:46.519 --> 00:31:53.879 When Adam falls in the garden, God comes walking in the garden, calling to Adam, where are you? 00:31:54.859 --> 00:32:00.879 When Abraham is worshiping his idols in Ur of the Chaldeans, God comes to him and calls him 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:08.760 to leave his idols and go to a promised land. When Moses is in Midian hiding because he has murdered 00:32:08.760 --> 00:32:16.960 an Egyptian, God calls to him from the burning bush. When Israel commits the sin of idolatry with a golden 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:23.960 calf, God doesn't quit on them. He renews covenant with them through Moses, and then he calls them 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:30.279 to come and meet with him at the tabernacle. It's how the book of Leviticus begins. Do you remember the 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:38.500 beginning of the book? And God called to Moses from the entrance of the tabernacle. And then what does 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:45.240 he give him? All the rules and regulations about priests and sacrifices so that God's people can come 00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:53.440 and meet with him. That's the great good news. God is still calling sinners like you and me to come 00:32:53.440 --> 00:33:03.359 and meet with him in his heavenly home. The question is, where can we meet with him? Because here we are 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:11.420 on earth, there he is in heaven. So where do we meet with God? At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem? Do you 00:33:11.420 --> 00:33:25.259 have to make a pilgrimage to Israel? Mecca? The Vatican? IPC Ealing? Online? Where can we meet with God? 00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:34.720 Well, the answer is actually not at a place anymore, but in a person. We can meet with God in Jesus Christ. 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:41.019 You see, the Romans were not really the ones who destroyed the temple in AD 70. I mean, they did, 00:33:41.019 --> 00:33:46.400 right? They came in, they ransacked it, they kicked over the stones, and all that's left is the 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:51.319 Wailing Wall today. But they were not really the ones who destroyed the temple, the second temple. 00:33:52.639 --> 00:33:59.619 It was Jesus in AD 33 when he died on a cross. Do you remember what happened at the temple? 00:34:00.339 --> 00:34:07.900 The curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. Jesus destroyed the temple on earth, 00:34:07.900 --> 00:34:15.579 the meeting place of God, because he himself became the new temple. His flesh, which was offered in our 00:34:15.579 --> 00:34:23.079 place as a sacrifice, through that flesh, Hebrews says, it was like a curtain opening the way for us 00:34:23.079 --> 00:34:29.019 into the presence of God. Then he ascended into heaven, and as our high priest, he sits there now 00:34:29.019 --> 00:34:38.559 mediating between us and God. You see, Jesus fulfills the tabernacle in Exodus. He fulfills everything 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:45.619 about it. He is the mercy seat, the place where God's wrath is turned away because of his sacrifice. 00:34:45.619 --> 00:34:51.920 He is the bread from heaven in whom eternal life consists. He is the light of the world. 00:34:51.920 --> 00:35:01.559 He is the tabernacle, John 1 14. The word became flesh and literally tabernacled among us. He is the 00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:08.800 sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He is the high priest who enters God's holy place to 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:17.220 offer the once for all sacrifice for his people's sins. Jesus is everything we need to meet with this 00:35:17.219 --> 00:35:28.239 holy king who dwells in his holy heaven. And he invites us to do so. So let me ask you in closing, 00:35:29.299 --> 00:35:34.859 have you ever met with him? Do you remember the question I asked my friend Clarkie when he told 00:35:34.859 --> 00:35:41.659 me that he lived beside Prince Charles, now King Charles III? Have you ever met him? 00:35:41.659 --> 00:35:54.500 So let me ask you, have you ever met with this God? Boys and girls, have you met him? Do you know you 00:35:54.500 --> 00:36:01.500 can meet him tonight through Jesus by putting your trust in Jesus? That's how you can meet him. 00:36:02.420 --> 00:36:09.519 Because Jesus, by faith, will take you into God's presence in those heavenly realms above, into his holy 00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:17.719 royal residence. And you will meet with the living God through Jesus by faith. And for those of us who 00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:26.860 have met with him, then let's rejoice that we have continual access into God's holy royal residence 00:36:26.860 --> 00:36:31.199 in heaven. This is how the writer of Hebrews puts it, 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:39.719 therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:45.699 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, 00:36:46.099 --> 00:36:52.859 there's the sacrifice. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, there's the priest, 00:36:52.860 --> 00:37:02.900 let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil 00:37:02.900 --> 00:37:13.320 conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What a beautiful, wonderful access we have into God's 00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:21.519 presence. Let us praise him. Let us pray. Father, we bless you that you're the God who longs to dwell 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:29.320 with humanity, a sinful humanity that has turned its back on you, and yet you call on us to come and 00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:36.380 meet with you. We thank you that you did that with Adam, with Abraham, with Moses, with Israel, and that 00:37:36.380 --> 00:37:42.599 you continue to do it now with sinners like us. We pray, Father, that you would give us the faith to be 00:37:42.599 --> 00:37:51.159 responsive to that call to meet with you through your Son, the Lord Jesus, in your high and holy residence 00:37:51.159 --> 00:38:00.559 above. And we ask this in Jesus's strong name. Amen. We're going to conclude our worship this evening 00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:04.179 by meditating and praising God for some of the things we've spoken.