Exodus 39-40

Drew Chapman

Exodus • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

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INTRO

Friends, here we are at the end of the Book of Exodus. I kinda can’t believe it…

Have you guys ever been to a big zoo or aquarium? I LOVE zoos and aquariums. When we lived in Philly I would go to the Philly Zoo or Adventure Aquarium in Camden sometimes weekly on my day off. They’re just great places to walk around, to be silent and observe, and to learn TONS about God’s incredible creation. I could talk about them for hours on end… but anyways, If you’ve ever been to a larger zoo or aquarium, you get there and you check out the map, and you come up with a game plan on how you’re going to see every exhibit there is to offer? And maybe there’s a little part of you that thinks to yourself “there’s no way we’re going to see everything…” But then one step at a time you see one exhibit after the other, you take a break for lunch, you stop to read all the signs and plaques and interactive stations. You see big creatures and little creatures, and then all of the sudden: you’re done. AND it didn’t take nearly as long as you thought it would. You made it, you saw everything, you’re exhausted, and it feels like and absolute blur when you think about it.

Maybe a few things stand out as highlights, but you saw so much that you’ll have to process it to recall specifics.

Well, like a trip to a big zoo or aquarium, what a journey it’s been for us through Exodus, right? We’ve covered a LOT of ground. We’ve seen lots of exhibits of The LORD’s power and plan, his provision and protection, and his justice and faithfulness, among many others. We’ve seen God’s people be in awe of God, be bored with God, rebel against God, and repent and follow God. All of this working together for us to see the overarching theme of Exodus: “Brought Out To Belong”.

Here’s just a fly-by of things that we’ve seen and learned about in Exodus:

We’ve seen God send Moses the deliverer to rescue His people from their 400+ years of slavery to Egypt.

We’ve seen Moses be afraid to speak for God, and lacking faith to trust Him.

We’ve seen the Ten Plagues against Egypt and its gods, demonstrating God’s sovereign power and control over all things.

We’ve seen God protect and escort His people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the Wilderness as a pillar of Cloud and Fire

We’ve seen God provide food in the form of manna and quail, and water out of a rock.

We’ve seen God meet with Moses on Mt. Sinai and give the Ten Commandments; The foundation for what it looks like to live for and submit to the One True God who saves and rescues us from slavery and sin and death.

We’ve seen Israel forget God’s commands and do what they felt was right over and over, and complain about being taken out of Egypt, away from their “comforts”

We’ve seen Aaron fashion an idol of a golden bull and try to convince Moses that it just came out of the fire that way…

We’ve seen over and over, our great God, who is committed to his people. Who has made and kept covenants for our Good and for His Glory, who is abundant in His goodness and mercy and grace towards us.

We’ve seen that our LORD cares very much about details, because they exhibit his intentionality and purpose in all things.

We’ve seen instructions for and construction of the Tabernacle, which is designed, among other things, to give us a taste of Eden, and Heaven. To remind us where we’ve come from and where we’re heading. All made possible by our LORD.

And we have seen time and time again, how Jesus is founder, perfecter, hope, purpose, promise, solution, remedy, and realty to all these things.

Church, what a trip we’ve made together.

And as we wrap things up today, as we enter the gift shop of the journey if you will… We’ve got some summaries this morning, as well as lots to take home and display in our homes and live out with our lives. So, let’s finish well, yea?

Our main idea for today:

Main Idea: The LORD’s commands are for our good, and His glory

1) The Tabernacle & God’s Glory

2) Jesus & God’s Glory

3) A Holy Priesthood & God’s Glory

PT. 1 :: The Tabernacle & God’s Glory

Similar to last week, everything that we see this morning in Chapter 39 and most of 40 are things that we’ve already gone over in detail, with the tabernacle and the priestly garments.

But I want to start by quickly zooming in on the last two verses of chapter 39: Exodus 39:42–43 “According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.”

Friends this is important because it reinforces that all of this is being done according to God’s plan, no one else’s. It reinforces that the people are following God’s commands and following His instructions to a T, and it shows Moses blesses the people for all their hard work and commitment to constructing and making everything according to God’s instructions.

God is pleased with all this work, and it is so done according to his work that, just like we saw last week; it is good. And God blesses the people through Moses. This should should connect another dot for us in the Bible back to creation where everything was made according to God’s design.

But as we get into chapter 40 we start to see a different kind of summary. The priestly garments are finally being made and the Tabernacle is finally being assembled.

I think it’s really cool when it tells us this is happening. in verse 2: we see God saying to Moses: Exodus 40:2 ““On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.” There’s something cool about this because it’s a tangible way that God is using to help communicate to his people that life is going to be different from now on. The first day of the first month of the year, and now you have the Tabernacle so that I can be among you again. I love that tangible fresh start from the LORD.

Another thing to catch in this summary text is that everything is to be anointed for service and ministry in the Tabernacle.

After everything is put together and put in place according to God’s instructions, we see in verse 9 that God says to Moses: Exodus 40:9 ““Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy.” As we read earlier, this means everything. Furniture, utensils, altars, the wash basin, all of it. Because, as we’ve seen throughout the instruction for these things; they all have a purpose and play a part in the right worship of the LORD.

So the Priestly garments are finally, beautifully made, and the Tabernacle is finally finished and assembled, and the ark of the covenant has been placed inside, and then, in what must have been truly wonderful and awesome to behold, a cloud covered the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD filled it. Not even Moses was allowed to enter.

The glory of the LORD filled this dwelling place. What a sight that must have been! And church, even though we weren’t there for that, even though we don’t get to see that with out own eyes today, we can read this and be blown away that the Sovereign creator of all things, THE almighty God, cares so much about his people that he actually wants to be with us, and was willing to descend to earth in this form to do so. It’s absolutely incredible, and it should bolster your faith to know that God loves and cares about you THAT much.

I’ve been thinking of this in the picture of an adult getting down on the floor to play with a group of kids. Does the adult have to get down on their hands and knees or lay down on the ground to play with or engage with or have fun with the kids? No, they can do all those things standing up or even from a distance. But does it change the kid’s experience? You better believe it. Does it make the kids feel more appreciated, valued, loved, respected, etc. Of course it does. When we think about God coming down to our wee level, it should make us feel those things, too. That’s how much he loves us.

Then we have these closing verses: Exodus 40:36–38 “Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”

Life was certainly different for Israel from this day forward. Throughout all their journeys, the very presence of the Glory of the LORD would be with them in the Tabernacle and guide them when and where to go. The people who were brought out of Egypt to Belong to their God now have him dwelling among them in the Tabernacle. The presence of His glory serving as an amazing reminder of his power, his plan, his provision, and his unending faithfulness.

All of this demonstrating that the LORD’s commands are for our good, and His glory.

Church we’ve seen so much of God’s glory on display throughout Exodus, and we’ve seen over and over how Jesus is pointed to, or foreshadowed, or promised. And we appropriately see this again here this morning, which brings us to our second point:

PT. 2 :: Jesus & God’s Glory

I want us to look at a few specific ways that our text this morning is pointing to Jesus.

First, is in the Tabernacle itself. Joel mentioned this last week, but it’s here again this morning. The Tabernacle isn’t just a pointing back to the Garden of Eden, and it’s not just a sort of Salt Box that can give us a taste of where we’ve come from, and it’s not just pointing to our eternal hope of Heaven, it is ALSO pointing to God himself dwelling with His people by sending His one and only Son, Jesus. The language used in the gospel of John when it says that the Word ‘dwelt’ among us? That word is ‘tabernacled’.

This completed Tabernacle filled with the Glory of the LORD that we see here this morning must remind us that God came to earth to dwell with, to guide, to minister to, to save and rescue HIS people, in the form of His Son, Jesus.

Second, Jesus is foreshadowed by the priests and priestly garments.

The garments are all about having a priest who is chosen and set apart. One who is holy and anointed for ministry to and for God’s people.

We see this in verses 12-15: Exodus 40:12–15 “Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall wash them with water and put on Aaron the holy garments. And you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest. You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them, and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.””

How does this point to Jesus? Well, it points to our need for a priest, and it points to that being a need for us in an ongoing way.

But do you remember way back when we went through the genealogy of Aaron and Moses? And how we took a look at the genealogy of Jesus and they were directly connected? That last part of verse 15 here is fulfilled in Jesus, who is our perfect priest forever. He is perfect, and blameless, and holy, and anointed for ministry to and for God’s people forever!

Third, Jesus is foreshadowed by the veil in the Tabernacle and the Presence of the Glory of God in the Tabernacle.

We know that the veil represents a barrier between the holy, glorious presence of God and sin. For imperfect, sinful, un-cleansed, un-anointed people to be in the presence of God would mean certain death. And we know that this veil is then represented by the thick curtain in the Temple, maintaining the same barrier. But what we also know, church, is that that curtain, that veil, that barrier, was torn in two from top to bottom the very moment that Jesus died. Why? Because in that moment, every sin had been paid for by his blood. Jesus made it possible for us to not just be in God’s presence without dying, but would ultimately send us the very Spirit of God to dwell, or tabernacle, within us! Believer, just as the glory and presence of God descended on the Tabernacle, so His Spirit has descended on you.

Just as the glory and presence of God helped to guide and protect God’s people, so His Spirit helps to guide and protect you!

This is ONLY possible because of Jesus and his death on your behalf. This is power of the Gospel, friends! God sent His Son to live the perfect life we couldn’t so that he could be the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins completely and permanently. When he died the curtain was ripped in two signifying the removal of a barrier between God and man, and also that Jesus would be our perfect mediator and priest forevermore. He rose from the dead on the third day, conquering sin and death, appeared to many disciples over many days, and then ascended into Heaven to sit down at the right hand of the Father after completing his assignment. He then sent the Spirit of God to dwell within his people, assuring us that we belong to him, assuring us that he will always provide for, guide, and help us, and assuring us that he will come back.

Friends, when we read about the priestly garments, and the priests, and the veil, they should all point us to Jesus like this. They all point to our need for him, and his perfect fulfillment of them.

There is truly none like Him, and he achieves all of this… he makes reconciliation with God possible, he makes the indwelling Spirit of God possible for us, he carries out his perfect priestly role, all for the Glory of God. All of this, the whole book of Exodus shouts and proclaims God’s glory because it’s all according to HIS commands and plan and design! His commands are for our good, and His glory!

Our God wants to be with his people and He’s gone to incredible lengths to make it possible. He has brought us our of our slavery to sin to belong to Him, and He is worthy of all glory and honor and praise, for who he is and what he has done, amen? Amen.

But what do we do with that? Being aware of it is good. Believing it is truly wonderful. Trusting it will help you tremendously in life. But what does it mean for our daily lives?

Jesus is our perfect High Priest, but he has also called and commissioned us to be his holy, royal priesthood here on earth until he returns.

This brings us to our final point this morning…

PT. 3 :: A Holy Priesthood & God’s Glory

Because this is a New Testament reality for us, that we live on this side of Jesus coming to earth and accomplishing our salvation and giving us His Spirt, I want to take us to 1 Peter 2 to unpack some of what it means for us to be living this out today.

1 Peter 2:4–5 “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

He continues in verse 9:

1 Peter 2:9–10 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Church, there is SO MUCH hope and help to be found in this passage.

We’re going to focus in on being a Holy Priesthood, but first I just want to encourage you as a church:

Redeemer Fellowship, I truly have never been a part of a church where I have visibly, tangibly experienced ‘living stones’ being built together and held together by the power and Spirit of Christ as much as I do here. You all EXCELL at being the living stones that are being built into the spiritual house that is Redeemer Fellowship, a part of the universal church, and it is beautiful.

Your hospitality, your genuine warmth and welcoming, your eagerness and willingness to meet new people and make new friendships, it’s incredible. Living together in this way honors the LORD, so keep it up, and depend on him to keep building us together in this way!

Now, back to business… what I really want us to focus on by way of application this morning, is Being a Holy Priesthood. What does it mean to be a Holy Priesthood today?

Let’s start with the word “Holy”.

Holy means to be set apart. A good place to go to to see more of what it means to be holy as a follower of Jesus is 1 Peter 1:13-25. We don’t have time to read it today, but one of the lines from God in that passage to us is the end of verse 16 where God says “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Being holy means that our lives look different than they used to before Jesus saved us. It means that we are daily becoming more like Him, and that we are regularly confessing our sins, repenting of them, and asking for the Spirit’s help to continue to change and submit more and more of our lives to God’s good commands. Because they’re for our good, right?

Friend, take a moment to recall your life before Jesus saved you. Are you a different person now than you were then? Of course you are. But are you living your life differently than you were back then? Hopefully you are, and hopefully it gets more and more different as time goes on and you become more like Jesus. But if you feel stuck, if you feel like you’re in a spiritual rut, or like there’s silence or vast space between you and God currently, think about these things with me:

Do you make a regular practice of confessing your sins to God and asking for his help to fight against them?

Do you take time to consider what sins may have taken root in your life and need to be rooted out by the Spirit’s power?

Consider taking time to ask God to help you to see the sin in your life, ones you know about and ones you don’t, and for his help to repent and run away from them, in an effort to live the holy life that he commands of us.

Praise God, that our holiness isn’t just up to us… No, we have the very Spirit of God alive and active in us to help us fight against sin, probably more than we’ll ever be aware. Ask God for his help, church, and he will gladly, eagerly help you to live a holy life.

But what about the “Priesthood” part of things? Well, we also know that Aaron and his sons and every other priest of God were anointed for their ministry. They were washed clean, given new garments, and anointed to serve. Sound familiar? Christian, you have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus, you have been given new, sparkling clean garments for life, and you have been anointed with the Holy Spirit to serve those around you.

But what does that look like? It doesn’t have to be anything crazy…

We know from Exodus that the priests were responsible for praying , ministering or caring for God’s people, and also taking their sins before the LORD. What might it look like for all of us to be doing these things today?

Do you actively, regularly, intentionally pray for the people in your life?

Do you look for opportunities to pray with others on Sundays or at Fellowship Group or throughout your week?

Do you look for ways to care for people, to love them, and to demonstrate the love of Christ to them?

Asking someone how they’re really doing is an excellent place to start. Try asking what’s the most exciting things about life right now, and what’s the hardest thing, and see where the conversation goes. I bet you’ll get the chance to know people better, to be known by others better, and get new chances to care for, love, and encourage people around you.

Do you help others take their sins and burdens to the LORD?

Sometimes helping others take their sins and burdens to the Lord is quicker and in the moment, like just reminding someone that their sins have been forgiven by Jesus.

Sometimes it’s a long-game approach full of patience and forbearance, speaking truth in love and trusting the Lord to work in their hearts and lives.

But either way, none of us are designed to carry such burdens alone, or indefinitely. We can’t. But you know who can? Jesus.

As we live life with one another and get to know each other deeper, we’ll start to see and experience each others’ sin more. And part of functioning as the Holy Priesthood is helping each other to take our sins to the One who has paid for them and forgiven us of their eternal weight and punishment. Sometimes we’re really good at trying to keep all of that to ourselves, but that’s a recipe for discontent, for despair, and for disaster. Friends, let us BE the Holy Priesthood by quickly, regularly reminding each other to lay our burden’s at the feet of the Only One who can truly do anything about them.

Believer, YOU cannot save anyone. And YOU cannot make anyone respond a certain way. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t faithfully strive to be the Holy Priesthood to one another. We need one another for these things, and we need the Spirit’s help to go about it rightly. Ask him for His help, and then get to work.

Those are just some of the ways that we can BE and FUNCTION as God’s Holy Priesthood.

CLOSE

Friends, we close with considering what it means for us to Proclaim His Excellencies. Everything we’ve covered this morning, it’s all for this.

The LORD’s commands are emphatically for our good. But more importantly, they are for His glory.

We’re not called to be living stones and a holy priesthood just for ourselves. We’ve seen that over and over this morning. We’re called to these things for our own good, as well as the good of the rest of the people of the church, so that we might proclaim the excellencies of the LORD.

How does that verse in 1 Peter 2 end?

1 Peter 2:9–10 “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Believer, we should be celebrating and rejoicing in these gracious, merciful realities LOUDLY. JOYFULLY. CORPORATELY. COLLECTIVELY.

When we do, it has remarkable effect on our souls as we praise and thank and glorify the LORD together.

But you know what else it does? It proclaims His excellencies to the world around us.

Just like the Tabernacle was an exhibit of God’s glory to the nations, so the church today, and each and every christian are designed to be clear and wonderful exhibits of God’s glory to everyone around us.

Do you want others to know and experience the transforming power of the Gospel? Do you want others to know that they are created and known and loved by God?

Well, the more we proclaim His excellencies together, the more the glory of God is on display for the world to see and know and believe who he is and what he’s done.

We’re all individual tabernacles, exhibiting God’s glory to the world and proclaiming His excellencies, letting everyone around us know that He’s called us out of the darkness into his glorious light, and that we belong to Him.

Our God is with us, friends. He is with you. You are a living stone being built into a spiritual house. You are part of a holy, royal priesthood, used by God to care for, to love, and to encourage His people. You have been brought out of darkness into the light of Christ, and you belong to our loving, powerful, faithful God.

So let us live for him as his Holy Priesthood together, following all of his commands, because they are for our good, and for HIS glory. Amen? Amen.