Exodus Tabernacle
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It was a big game. It wasn’t the playoffs or anything, but it was a team in our division. The drive was about an hour away for the basketball game. I always enjoyed the bus ride, just joking around with my friends. We get to the gym and we all make our way back to the locker room to get dressed and ready. I am not sure if they still do this today, Maybe they still do, but we always had to wear a coat and tie the day of the game and the ride out to the game.
So I had my navy blue blazer, my red tie, and my dress shoes. I remember the dress shoes that I was wearing, they were doc martins.
It was a big game. It wasn’t the playoffs or anything, but it was a team in our division. The drive was about an hour away for the basketball game. The bus ride was always a blast just joking around with your friends. We get to the gym and we all make our way back to the locker room to get dressed and ready. Maybe they still do this today, but we always had to wear a coat and tie the day of the game and to the game. And the “dress shoes” that I was wearing were doc martins. They weighed about 100 lbs each and had thick rubber soles on the bottom. It was the cool thing then, I was not the only one with them.
They weighed about 100 lbs each, they had thick rubber soles on the bottom. It was the cool thing then, I was not the only one with them.
So we make our way back to the locker room to change and get ready for the game.
I open my bag pull out my jersey and then I realize it, my stomach drops to the floor, somethings missing, my basketball shoes are nowhere to be found. I take everything out and stare at the bottom of my empty bag knowing that at an away like this there is no provision for me. No shoes would come.
The consequence of not bringing your stuff meant, you didn’t get to play. Even if I tried to wear my doc martins out there, I couldn't, those kinds of shoes were not allowed.
No one could bring me my basketball shoes, and the game was about to start. And so I had to sit there on the bench in my coat, tie, and doc martins watch.
I needed provision, but it did not come.
You know I think we all have been in something like this spot before, whether we lost the ticket to a show or a document we needed to bring to the DMV that we didn't have so we have to leave the DMV after waiting in line forever.
There are times we need provision, and not just on these little matters like this.
When it comes to knowing God. We need provision. We show up in this life without the shoes needed to play.
In order to know God, we need provision. We need all need to be forgiven, we all need to be made clean, we all need someone who will vouch for us.
FCF: We need provision
We desire to be innocent of wrong doing, we want to be honorable.
Innocence and honor
And God provided a way, in Exodus he provided his people with what they needed so they could enjoy what he created them for, to know and enjoy his presence.
FCF:
We need a go between
The tabernacle is this provision.
We need to be washed clean
We need forgiveness
This morning we are going to look at the tabernacle, and what it tells us about God and us, and how it provided what was needed for God’s people.
The tabernacle was a moveable tent that God used to visible represent his presence with his people. And in the tent and around the tent was his proscribed provision for his people to dwell with him.
What I hope we see this morning as we look at the tabernacle is that
Because God’s presence dwells with his people we should receive his provision
We won't be going through the meaning behind each piece of furniture that we find in the tabernacle, although that is a worthwhile thing to do. We would just never finish this sermon series if we tried to do that.
We will just be hitting the major provisions of God found in the tabernacle so that his people could dwell with him in peace.
The first provision we see in the tabernacle is for forgiveness.
We need a sacrifice
We need a sacrifice
God’s people are still at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses goes up the mountain and get’s instructions from the Lord regarding the tabernacle. Look with me at verse 8.
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
The tabernacle, was a moveable tent that God used to visible represent his presence with his people.
The tabernacle, was a moveable tent that God used as his
And over the next 6 chapter we get a detailed description of all that is required for God dwell in the midst of his people. We wont be going through the meaning behind each piece of furniture in the tabernacle, we will just be hitting the major highlights as to what God required oh his people for him to dwell with them.
One of the things that we see with the creation of the tabernacle is the important place the priest had in this system. One of the major responsibilities the priest had was to be a go between. That is the priest was to represent the people to God and offer sacrifices and prayer on the peoples behalf.
Illustration:
Application:
Receive his provision by praying in Jesus name
We need someone who can vouch for us. Someone to represent one of us. We need to pray in Jesus name
So if you were looking at the Tabernacle from the outside one of the most predominant features you would see right outside the tent would be the bronze altar. It was about 4 feet high and 7 feet wide. and it was here that sacrifices were made. There were different kinds of sacrifices but the most important were the sin offering and the guilt offering.
That is if someone sinned they were required to bring an animal, and there the priest would lay hands on the animal, to sacramentally transfer the sin of the person to the animal, and then the animal would die and absorb the cost of the sin so that the person would be forgiven.
For God to dwell with his people, a sacrifice was needed, sin had to be forgiven, and forgiveness requires sacrifice.
Forgiveness always comes at a cost. If someone borrows your car and gets into a fender bender, either they pay for the cost, or you can forgive them and absorb the cost yourself.
When it comes to sin, all sin is an offense the loving God, and all sin does harm to yourself, another person or God’s good creation.
For the Israelites God set up a system for them to be forgiven, the sacrificial animal paid the price for their sins.
But, but because no animal could ultimately and eternally bear the cost of the sin, those animals were a sign, a sacrament that pointed to the greater reality; that God himself absorbed the cost.
Jesus, God in the flesh, who absorbed the cost of sin when he became the sacrifice. Jesus' death on the cross was the full and perfect sacrifice for sin, God’s provision so that we can be forgiven. So that you can be forgiven.
Illustration:
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to have to be forgiven. Mostly I just want to make it right without having to need forgiveness.
You know like when you are having an argument with your friend or your spouse, and you just get so angry that you say the very thing that you know will just hurt that person the most.
I mean,
I know I have done that to Sara Frances, and once things cool down a little. The gravity of what I said hits me, and I feel that terrible sense of regret in your stomach.
And I can’t take back my words, I spewed them out.
The only cure is forgiveness.
And one of the hardest thing to say is, I am sorry I was wrong.
And what being in relationship with Sara Frances has taught me is that you don’t just ignore that and act like it did not happen.
And
I am sorry, no excuses like I was tired, or stressed or hangery, no minimizing, like I should not have said that, but it is not really that big a deal.
Or, blame-shifting, if you would have just been a little more patient I wouldn't have reacted like that.
Sometimes the hardest thing to say is: I am sorry, I need your forgiveness.
Application:
Application:
For him to forgive his former coworker it meant absorbing the cost. It was a refusal to make the coworker pay for the pain it caused him, and the reputation that was hurt.
And this is where my friend learned forgiveness. You see forgiveness for him had mostly been just associated with just letting stuff roll off his back, it meant something like not caring, but he learned that forgiveness cost something. For him to forgive his former coworker it meant absorbing the cost. It was a refusal to make the coworker pay for the pain it caused him, and the reputation that was hurt.
Application:
God has provided us a way to receive forgiveness. In the Old Testament it was animal sacrifices, in the New Testament Jesus, God in the flesh, became the sacrifice.
And it can be difficult to receive God’s forgiveness.
What makes it difficult to receive His provision for our sins?
Sometimes it is our pride. We don’t want to have to admit we have done wrong. We just want to make it right.
Sometimes we resist receiving God’s forgiveness because of our family story. We have not known a person to forgive us, at least not with strings attached, and so admitting we need forgiveness feels too risky.
Sometimes it is fear, we resist receiving God’s forgiveness because of our family story.
We have not known a person to forgive us, at least not with some kind of strings attached, and so admitting we need forgiveness feels too risky. We don’t think God would actually forgive our sins.
But if we desire to know God to be known by him, to experience his presence. We need his forgiveness.
And God offers forgiveness to all who come to him.
God will forgive you, not because he overlooks it, not because it is no big deal, he forgives your sins because he absorbed the cost.
What holds people back from receiving God’s forgiveness?
Strings attached
Pride
We need to be cleansed
We need to be cleansed
God will forgive you, not because he overlooks your sin, not because it is no big deal, he forgives your sins because he absorbed the cost. He paid the price so you don’t have to.
God provides a sacrifice so that we can be forgiven, but we also need to be washed.
We need to be cleansed
We need to be cleansed
When looking at the Tabernacle you would see the bronze altar, and the next provision you would see as you get closer to the tent itself is a bronze basin for washing.
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
The tabernacle, was a moveable tent that God used to visible represent his presence with his people.
God required of his people was that they be cleansed.
Only those who were in a ritual state of purity could come to the tabernacle.
chapter 30 verse 20 says this
When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”
They needed to be clean to enter God’s presence. Being clean or unclean did not have to do with hygiene, but with ritual states of purity. And while committing a sin would make you unclean, you did not have to commit a sin to become unclean. Burying a loved one, having a child, or getting eczema were just some things that could make you unclean. You could even become unclean because of something done to you.
Now,
The clean and unclean laws in the Old Testament did not have to do with hygiene, but with ritual states. And while committing a sin would make you unclean, you did not have to commit a sin to be ritually unclean. Burying a loved one or having a child, or getting eczema for example would make you unclean for a period of time.
It was sacrifices and the ceremonial washings changed the status of the Israelite from unclean to clean.
The Israelites were in constant need to be made clean, they lived with the reality that it is not just their guilt that needed to be dealt with, but their shame, that there is something wrong with them. Something that is out of their control.
The clean and unclean laws that God created for his people was how they dealt with their shame.
They were constantly reminded that they needed to be cleansed. The clean and unclean laws that God created for his people was how they dealt with their shame.
God
With the tabernacle and the washings, God gave them a way to get clean, a way to deal with their shame. Not to ignore their shame, but to wash it away.
Illustration:
You know that the Bible talks about shame about 10 times more than it talks about guilt.
Shame
What is shame? It is a sense that you are unacceptable, either because of something you have done or because of something that was done to you.
Application:
So where is shame?
it's behind depression, “the person who thinks they aren't worth it,”
It's behind anger: usually a combination of self-loathing and arrogant judgment.
It's behind eating disorders, addictions, and cutting.
Under fear and guilt lies the root of shame.
Some words that we use when we sense our shame:
Embarrassed, Dishonored, disrespected, filthy, disgusting, defiled, outcast, humiliated, failure, loathed, worthless, stupid, unlovable.
Unclean,
Shame is everywhere. But you can be cleansed.
Christians, we too have our ritual cleansing, we don’t need to be washed again and again as the Israelite did. For in Christ we only need to be washed once. For there is one baptism.
We can come into the presence of God because we have been washed, moved into a state of ritual purity.
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
So, we remember our baptisms, and we place our hand in the water as we enter into God’s presence, not to be washed again, but to remember that in Christ we are washed clean, washed whiter than snow.
Hebrews
We remember our baptisms by refusing to hide.
So no matter what was said about you growing up, no matter what was done to you by another person. In the waters of Christ, all is washed away.
So your fingers touch the water and you bring it to your forehead and feel the water drip, you remember that
you are not dishonored, but honored,
Shame is healed in the open.
not filthy, but clean,
not disgusting, but beautiful,
not an outcast, but included
not loathed, but loved,
not worthless, but priceless
Not rejected, but adopted
In Christ we are washed clean, made acceptable to God.
In Christ you have been washed. We can live in the light, in honest relationships with one another, and before God.
The tabernacle cleansing’s point us to the cleansing of Jesus that is promised to us in our baptisms.
We are washed so that we might dwell with God and he with us.
We need to be cleansed, to
The altar and the basin were provisions of God, but
But we a
We also need a priest
We also need a priest
After the alter and the water basin, there is the tent itself. And inside the tent, there are all kinds of furniture, and it was the priest's job to enter into the tent he was to be a go-between so that the Israelites would have a relationship with the LORD.
And there were two main sections inside the tent, the holy place and the most holy place. The most holy place in the tent was the section that had the ark of the covenant. The most holy place was sectioned off by a curtain that had two cherubim sown into the fabric. and once a year the priest would pass by thes cherubim and enter the most holy place, the intimate presence of God and intercede on the Israelites behalf.
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
This was God’s provision, Adam and Eve had been expelled from the garden and two cherubim guarded the way back to God’s presence. God was now providing a way to get back.
But as good as his provision was here, it pointed to a greater provision to come. That is it pointed to the greatest high priest, Jesus Christ.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Heb 7:
The tabernacle, was a moveable tent that God used to visible represent his presence with his people.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
And over the next 6 chapter we get a detailed description of all that is required for God dwell in the midst of his people. We wont be going through the meaning behind each piece of furniture in the tabernacle, we will just be hitting the major highlights as to what God required oh his people for him to dwell with them.
God’s provision is not just for us to be forgiven, his provision is not just for us to be cleansed, the ultimate provision is for us to be in union with God. The curtain with the cherubim has been torn from top to bottom, and with Jesus our high priest, we pass through to the most holy place.
The goal is communion with God. Jesus intercedes for us by taking us by the hand and leading us into the presence of God.
The chief good of man is to be united to his God, with whom is the fountain of life and of all blessings; but their own unworthiness drives all away from any access to him. Then the peculiar office of a Mediator is to bring us help in this respect, and to stretch out his hand to us that he may lead us to heaven.
His provision has a purpose, he provides so that we might commune with the Lord, as Adam and Eve did in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden.
Illustration:
Illustration:
You know if somehow someone would have provided for me. If someone would have given me a pair of basketball shoes, the only right response, the natural response really, is to what? lace them up and go and play the game.
If I were given a pair of shoes and then went for a run or when out back and shoveled dirt it would make no sense.
That is not the purpose of the provision. The purpose would be so that I could play.
Application:
God’s provision given in the tabernacle is so that he and his people could dwell together in peace and joy. In Jesus Christ, God’s provision is the same, so that we might enjoy God’s presence.
But God’s provision is for us to know him, to experience fellowship with him. To know his life, to share in the life of Christ.
Who is continually making intercession for us, continually bringing us into the presence of the Father.
But God’s provision is for us to know him, to experience fellowship with him. to know his life, to share in the life of Christ. Who is continually making intercession for us, continually bringing us into the presence of the Father.
So that we can say with Jesus who sits at the right hand of the father.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
It is
Application:
Receive his provision by praying in Jesus name
We need someone who can vouch for us. Someone to represent one of us. We need to pray in Jesus name