Transcription
Only 15 days remained until the first anniversary of the Israelites' departure from Egypt. The first day of the first month, called Abib.
Moses raised the tabernacle. First, he fastened the sockets, set up the boards, put in the bars, and raised up the pillars. Then he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the Lord had commanded him.
Then he took the stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments and put them into the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering to shield it.
After Moses put the table in the tabernacle of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil, and he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord. Then he put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting across from the table on the south side of the tabernacle. Then he lit the lamps before the Lord.
He also put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil, and he burned sweet incense on it. After he hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle, and he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering.
Then Moses set the labor between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar and put water there for the priests to wash themselves. After Moses raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar. Finally, he hung up the screen of the courtgate. So Moses finished the work.
What happened next is the climax of the entire book of Exodus. The cloud came down, covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Sabbath Schoolike presents the series Exodus, Journey to the Promised Land. Lesson 13, the tabernacle.
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What is the climax of a good book or a movie?
>> The end. It's the most exciting part where the whole plot unfolds.
>> Exactly. Exodus ends with God's glory filling the tabernacle, dwelling among his people. So that glorious movie synopsis could be: God wanted to dwell with his people and did even the impossible to achieve it. He empowered an aged man, sent plagues upon a powerful nation, divided the waters of the sea, brought forth springs in the desert, rained bread from heaven, and even forgave the unfaithfulness of the people. He never gave up until he finally dwelt in their midst. Yes, the tabernacle isn't just one more scene. The tabernacle was the stage where God, the protagonist, lives.
So this week's question is, what final lessons does the construction and inauguration of the tabernacle teach us?
First, the previous instructions. Can you think of a major event or construction?
>> The World Cup, the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai?
>> Very well. We usually start watching an event or a construction from its inauguration. But in order for that event or construction to be successful, a great deal of prior work must be done. If all the previous instructions are not carried out, the entire project would be a complete failure.
Before raising up the tabernacle, Moses gave crucial instructions for the success of the project. No work on the Sabbath. "Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord." What? But it was the Lord's work. Why not work on Sabbath in the tabernacle work? Listen carefully. Although it was a sacred work, it required great physical and intellectual effort that would distract the worker from the spirit of worship to God that we should maintain during the holy hours of the Sabbath. Do you know the common phrase, "I don't think God is concerned about me doing this or that on the Sabbath"? Well, before uttering such a thing, remember that God didn't even allow work on the tabernacle on the Sabbath.
Another instruction was to bring offerings for the work of the tabernacle. "Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord." My question, couldn't the God who parted the sea, brought forth springs in the desert, and rained bread from heaven set up a tabernacle without the Israelites' offerings? Of course, he could. A single word is enough for God to create something. But since God had already shown enough evidence of his willingness to dwell among his people, it was now the people's turn to demonstrate if they wanted God to dwell among them. And they brought so many offerings that Moses had to restrain them from bringing. Do you notice? Setting aside the day and the offering that God asked of us is evidence that we want to dwell with him.
Second, the items. What do you find most exciting about what Moses did while raising up the tabernacle?
>> When he put the testimony in the ark? When he lit the lamps?
>> Listen carefully. Everything done in the tabernacle was teaching the plan of salvation and, of course, pointed to Christ. The altar of the burnt offering, where the sacrifices were made, was a symbol of the cross where the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world would die. The bronze laver reminds us that Jesus is the spring of living water that purifies our lives. The table of the showbread pointed to Jesus, the bread of life. The golden lampstand anticipates Jesus' coming, the light of the world. The altar of incense teaches us that we access God's presence through Jesus' prayer and intercession. The ark, inside which were the Ten Commandments, had a golden lid with two cherubim of beaten gold called the mercy seat. Above it rested the Shekinah, a symbol of God's presence. The ark and the mercy seat were the very heart of the sanctuary where justice and mercy met.
Do you notice everything pointed to the plan of salvation? A daily and a yearly service were performed there. In the daily service, the sinner would bring an animal to the courtyard, confess his sins by laying his hands on it, and the animal was sacrificed. Then the priest would take some of the blood and bring it to the holy place, where he would sprinkle it on the veil that separates the holy place with the most holy place. So the path of the sin went from the sinner to the animal, and from the animal to the sanctuary. As this was repeated day after day, the sanctuary was symbolically filled with sins. So one day a year was needed to purify it. The Day of Atonement. With what was it purified? With the same element used for the sinner: blood. All this anticipated what Paul wrote centuries later. "Christ entered the most holy place not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood." How wonderful that God wanted to dwell and teach in the same place, the tabernacle.
And third, God's presence. What would you do if you could witness God's glory with your own eyes?
>> I would fall to my knees. I would be moved to tears.
>> Well, that's exactly what the Israelites experienced. The climax of the book of Exodus wasn't the departure from Egypt, nor the parting of the sea, nor receiving the law. It was the time when God's glory descended and filled the tabernacle. "Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
Do you notice God didn't say "on the mountain"? He came down to dwell with his people. That was God's dream from the beginning: to live with humankind. He did so in Eden. He replicated it in the tabernacle and repeated it with Jesus. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Yes, Emmanuel, God with us. And he will do so again in a permanent and eternal way on the new earth. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God." There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem because the presence of God will be there. Did you know that the length, the width, and the height of the city are equal, just as the most holy place was, which had the shape of a cube with all its sides equal? That means we will live in the presence of our God for all eternity in a world with no sin, death, or suffering.
The Israelites of the desert were already actors of that wonderful story, and they saw God's glory to be there. They fulfilled the previous instructions, keeping the Sabbath and giving offerings. They made every item of the sanctuary which symbolized Christ and his plan of salvation. And they were ready to receive God's presence. But a better story is yet to be written. The God who never gives up will come for his children to take them and live with him for eternity.
Are you allowing God to dwell in your life? Are you setting aside your time, resources, and heart for Jesus to be the center? Are you living with the hope of living eternally with him? Then pray this prayer with your greatest desire: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
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