The Tabernacle (Exodus 25-27, 36:8-38:31)

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Good morning church. Good to see you all this morning, if you want to go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to Exodus 25 Exodus 25 is where we’ll start this morning. As you’re turning there, I travel occasionally for work in particular, and it’s always a bummer. My kids are invariably disappointed. Never mind Amy, who is shockingly disappointed always because she needs the extra help around the home, of course, but so my kids, you know like they know that the younger ones burst into tears, all that kind of stuff when I’m leaving, they like to know that dad’s going to be home, that they’re going to be able to stay with them. They prefer it when I am present with them, when they get to be with me. Fact, one time when I was leaving on a trip, this was number of years ago, one of my daughters actually drew a picture of herself so that I could take the picture with me, so that she would still be with me in some way, still have it my briefcase, in fact, at this point. So again, everybody just likes it when we’re, you know, we’re together. We get to be with dad. That’s how Israel would be feeling at this moment in Exodus. I mean, they don’t really have a home at this point. They’ve left Egypt, where they were for four plus centuries, and they’re not yet in the Promised Land, even then, though they’re going to be entering this new land and they’re going to be fighting new battles. And there’s this question, will you be with us, father? And in our chapters this morning, we get an unequivocal yes to that question. This first detailed bit of instructions, and we get in the latter half of Exodus is all about God’s dwelling place, all about the tabernacle. And when I say detailed instructions, by the way, I do mean detailed instructions. Quite long if you’ve read Exodus before. The old joke is that it took God six days to create the world and 40 days to explain how to make his tabernacle. And that’s right, tells us a little something, by the way, about just how important this place is. In fact, not only do we get detailed instructions in 25 to 27 but then we go back in 36 to 38 and we get all those same instructions again. It’s an almost verbatim repetition of the text, just showing that the Israelites actually followed God’s detailed instruction. So this is so important, we get six chapters of Scripture all about it, in part because it’s one of the most powerful visual aids that we have in Scripture to understand who God is and what he wants. So my hope here this morning is that as we look at the furnishings and the tent and the courtyard, that we would understand God’s heart to dwell with His people, to dwell with us, and that would produce in us a deep and abiding joy. So with that, let’s dive in. We’ll look first at the furniture, because that’s what is given to us first chapter, 25 let me start by reading verses one to nine. I will say at the outset, I’m not going to read every verse of our text. Those of you who call Cityview home, I’m hoping you read every verse this week, so that you are ready to go. But let me start Exodus. 25 one to nine, the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from every one whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them, gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen goat hair, Ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil, for the light spices, for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece. Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. So here’s our introduction to all of this, and it begins by God encouraging those with a heart to give, to bring their offerings to him. It is not mandatory here. It is freely offered, which is important. Our giving always reflects our commitment to the Lord. It’s one of the clearest signs that we have that yes, we are on board. We’re with King Jesus. But there’s also a reminder in this. As you look at this list of very impressive materials being gathered, you think to yourself, they’ve been slaves for a long time. Where did they get all this material? And of course, we already got the answer earlier in Exodus. It’s when they plundered the Egyptians. As they were leaving, they were supposed to ask their task masters for gold and silver and all the rest, and it says that God would make the Egyptians favorably dispose toward them, so that they would give this to the Israelites. In other words, this was God’s gift to the Israelites. They’re just giving back some of what he has already given to them. The question is never, how much of my money will I give God, but how much of God’s money will I hold back for myself? How can I best steward his gifts? If we’re stingy, it’s likely because we think it’s ours, because we’re untrusting that he’ll provide in the future. But if we have that grateful trust, we will joyfully participate, and we get to participate. That’s the other fun part about this. I mean, God invites us to be a part of what he’s doing. Just imagine, as you’re seeing the tabernacle being constructed and thinking, I gave some of that like it might be some of my gold that’s being used to make the cover of the ark. And that’s what God is always doing, inviting us to participate in what he is doing as we bring what we have. Now, the list of materials is impressive. You know, we hand out lists here occasionally, like when we do our school supply drive for ici every summer. But this is not like that, because this is only the best material around, because God is who He is, and he’s worthy of the best to show His royalty and power. Then we get verses eight and nine, and these are significant verses here, because we get three words used to describe what is about to be built here, a sanctuary, a dwelling place, and then a tabernacle. And each one of those words is important because it teaches us about who God is and what his purpose is. So tabernacle and we use it. It sounds nice and religious and whatnot. It just means tent. That’s all it is. In fact, gets translated as tent most of the time. But why does God want a tent? Well, remember, his people are living in tents at this point, so he’s identifying with his people and then promising to go with them. It’s important that it’s portable, so that he can travel with them, and then dwelling place. We saw this word last week when the glory cloud settled on top of Sinai like a dwelt there. It’s important this is a permanent address. In other words, this is where God lives. So, yes, it’s portable because the camp’s moving around, but his permanent address is right there in the middle of the camp. And then sanctuary holy place, because our God is a holy God, Let’s not miss the significance of this moment, either. If you were here last week, you know, Moses is at the top of Sinai, and he’s getting all these instructions from God, you know, hearing God’s words in the glory cloud. And so God begins to speak, and there’s this sense of, okay, like, what’s he going to say first? And he says, Please make a tent for me. So we have this holy God. We know that they’re not even on the mountain because he’s so holy. We have this Holy God, and he’s giving instructions on how to build this place. Because we don’t get to approach him on our terms. We approach Him on His terms, okay? But here’s a holy God who wants to dwell with us that’s at the center of his heart. In fact, it’s the whole reason for the Exodus we’re going to read in our passage next week, Exodus, 2946 I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt. So that that introduces a purpose clause, right? Here’s the purpose. Here’s why he brought them out of Egypt. Here’s why we had the plagues and the Red Sea so that I might dwell among them. Can imagine the interviewer after the Red Sea rode, you know, interviewing God, why did you decide to rescue Israel from slavery? And his answer is, so I could live with them? Can we just pause in awestruck worship at the heart of our God? And this is a group of unruly, unholy sinners, as we will see, and yet God wants to be with them. This is really the first step in his unfolding plan to restore us to Eden. God made us to dwell in His presence. Adam and Eve lived with him. They took walks together in the afternoon. So this is like his beachhead, his outpost that He’s establishing to get us back to that place where we dwell with Him for ever. Now. Then we get detailed instructions. Three pieces of furniture in the most holy place, the ark, the table and the lamp stand. They’re given to us in order of importance. In fact, this whole thing is arranged in terms of the order of importance as well. So let’s start with the ark. I’m going to read verses 10 and 11. Then I’ll drop down a little bit. Here it is. Have them make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high, overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Drop down to verse 17, make an atonement cover of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide, and make two. Cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other. Make the cherubim of one piece with the cover at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark, and put in the ark the Tablets of the Covenant law that I will give you there above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the Ark of the Covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. So the ark, it’s just, it’s a box, okay? It’s a rectangular wooden chest, roughly four foot by two foot by two foot, overlaid with gold, has rings on the side and poles that go through it so they can carry it. Those poles are never removed, so that nobody ever has to touch the ark, which is kind of the holiest object on Earth, as Uzzah learned in the series we’ve already touched on. But it’s important what makes this object so holy is because of what’s inside and on top of it. So what’s inside it? We see in verse 21 are the covenant tablets. So these are written by the very Finger of God, God’s word to his people. And so there’s this reminder, not only that God reveals Himself to us, that he discloses himself, but that he enters into covenant with His people, and then on top, well, we get a lid, basically a cover. It’s actually called the Atonement Cover, which is exactly what it is, because one day a year, the high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. That’s what that means, would splash the blood of the sin offering on the Atonement Cover to make atonement for the people’s sins. Yom Kippur, that word Kapur, actually means cover, and it’s related to the word lid that we get here, which is caperet. So they’re they’re very closely connected. This is such an important place. This is where atonement happens. And there also are cherubim there, which is significant, too. Now we learn later on in the Old Testament why the cherubim are there. Because Ezekiel has a vision of God’s heavenly throne, and at the bottom of it are cherubim who are basically carrying it around. Well, that makes sense, then that’s what’s happening here as well. This is God’s throne, really, the way the Old Testament speaks of it is that this is God’s footstool. So his throne is in Heaven and His feet, this is where they touch the Earth. Is that the Atonement Cover the lid on the Ark of the Covenant? This is where God dwells. Isn’t that what he says in verse 22 there above the cover between the two cherubim I will meet with you. This is where I will speak to you. So you put these two together, and you kind of see that God is right there in the middle of the camp. And yet we can’t come to God without a mediator, without a sacrifice. There needs to be blood splashed right where we’re going to meet with him. In fact, there are angels there and these cherub and the first time we met a cherub in Scripture, he’s got a flaming sword making sure that they don’t come back into the Garden of Eden. So all of this would remind Israel like God is in our midst, but we have limited access to him, which would leave us hungering for more. Wouldn’t it to think like we’re so close I can’t go in, only one guy gets to go in, and only one day out of the year leaves us longing to draw closer. Next though, we get the table. So let me read a little bit more. Read 2324 and 30 make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold and make it. Make a gold molding around it. Put the bread of the presence on this table to be before me at all times. So the most important part of the table is verse 30. What is on the table? The bread of the presence. We learn later in Leviticus that there are 12 loaves that are always to be there. These represent the 12 Tribes of Israel, and that the priests then are actually supposed to eat the bread weekly. This is really significant, because that means the bread is not a gift that Israel is offering to God, as if God needed us to feed him, God needs nothing from us whatsoever. No, this is actually a symbol of God’s provision for us, which is why the priests eat it on behalf of the people, on behalf of the 12 Tribes. So we have this opulent table with food on it. It’s as if it’s just screaming. The King is here, and he is bringing his people his bounty, which he shares with us. Then we have a lamp stand. We read verses 31 and then 37 to 40 make a lamp stand of pure gold, hammer out its base and shaft and make its flower like cups buds and blots. Blossoms of one piece with them, then make it seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. Its wick. Trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lamp stand and all these accessories. See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. So a talent, in case you don’t know what that is, means that this is made from about seven from about 75 pounds worth of gold. This is not your grandma’s Lampstand that you can find in a second hand shop or something like that. Now, if you’re picturing a menorah as you picture this lampstand, that’s probably right. Certainly that’s how it comes down to us, at least. But it’s got all these branches coming out, and they’ve got little cups on them, so it looks like a tree, and even more so, because these cups are like almond buds. Now a tree would symbolize life, like the tree of life, and the almond buds would help that along, because they’re the first to blossom in the spring. It would be like the Cheryl or the Magnolia for us. So we’ve got light and life brought together, which makes sense, they’re connected. You know, creation, for example, let there be light, and then God creates life. Here’s Psalm 36 verse nine, for with you is the fountain of life in your light, we see light. And so those are the two ideas that the lamp stand are communicating. It’s communicating, but God’s presence too. Of course, the light is on and light is always on, because God is always home. You turn off the lights when you leave. I’m speaking here as a father. You know, if you’re a dad, about 87% of your job, it’s in Scripture, is to make sure that your kids turn the lights off and sometimes your wife when you leave. Now that’s in the temperate months. In winter, you also have to make sure the door is closed, because we’re not here to heat the whole neighborhood, right? Someone say, Amen, okay, but yeah, what? That was a very low Amen, not a lot of high pitched and that’s weird, but that’s the idea here. You don’t ever have to turn the lights off, because God is always there. We know that. In fact, we saw that in Revelation when we did revelation this spring. If a church abandons God, then God removes the lampstand from in their midst, because it means God has left the building. And so it’s not happening here, at least. Now, what’s really interesting in all of this is that we get the furniture before we get the place to put the furniture. The furniture precedes the tent. That’s not how this normally works. You don’t usually buy your couches, your coffee table, the king bed and stuff and go all right now that we’ve got this, we should find a place to live, and yet that’s what we’re given here. Why? Because the tent serves the furniture. The furniture is the most important part. But now we can move on to the tent. Chapter 26 I’m going to be all over the place, but we’ll start in verse one, at least. Here you go, the tent. Make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. Here’s verse seven, make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle. 11, all together, down to verse 14, make for the tent a covering of RAM skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather. Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 26 also make cross bars of acacia wood five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle and on from there and then. Verses 30 to 36 set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain. Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the Ark of the Covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the holy place from the Most Holy Place. Put the Atonement Cover on the Ark of the Covenant law in the Most Holy Place. Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lamp stand opposite it on the south side the entrance to the tent. Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. The work of an embroiderer will stop there. So you get the idea here. We have a lot of curtains. We’ve got hooks to hang the curtains and then poles to put the hooks on. It’s this very complicated structure, and it is like a finely woven cloth, and then it’s covered by this leather kind of outer, basically rain roof at that point as well. Now, the point of all this, though, the curtains are to protect God’s people. So it is to keep them out of the holy place, the most holy place, yes, but to keep them out so that God’s wrath doesn’t break out against them. And we saw this last week, right? May the elders eat with God, and it says he did not raise his hand against them, which is what should happen when unholy people. Will come into the presence of a holy God. So here we’re just making sure that that doesn’t happen. In fact, the courtyard has this giant, high curtain fence around it as well. You don’t just accidentally walk in there. We get three separations here. So you’ve got the courtyard. But then you can see verse 36 it talks about the fact that there needs to be a door, basically, between the courtyard and the holy place, the tabernacle itself. And then verse 33 says there will be another curtain that separates the holy place from the most holy place. So you got all these barriers because you can’t just approach. You have to come to God on His terms, and you have to come with blood sacrifice. We have this huge emphasis on portability then as well. I mean, this is a tent again, even if you call it a tabernacle, doesn’t change the fact that it’s a tent. And the nice thing about tents is you can take them camping, so you can move them around. And that’s what’s happening here as well. God is on the move. It reminds us two things. Number one, God will go with his people as they move, and in fact, we’ll go all the way into the promised land with them. But more importantly, reminds us that we need to be ready to follow him like actually, he’s the one setting the direction. I don’t know that’s changed today, even though we don’t have a tent with us at this point. Now remember, God is restoring us to Eden so that we can dwell in His presence again. And so it’s not surprising that we get a lot of creation parallels in this story. In fact, in all these detailed instructions, not just our passage today, there are seven speaking acts, just like there are seven God said, Let there be light kind of moments in creation. So seven times we read the Lord said to Moses in this whole long section, and then in both cases, we’re talking about where God would specially dwell with His people. Interestingly, both of them actually end with the Sabbath. We know that in creation, but we’ll see in two weeks. I think it’s two weeks that that’s we get Sabbath regulations at the end of all of this as well. Both cases, it’s followed by a fall. And because they’re worshiping something less than God. Adam and Eve are worshiping themselves, but of course, Israel is going to end up worshiping a golden cow. And then you’ve got the cherubim as well, the one with the flaming sword, keeping them out of Eden. And then here, over the Atonement Cover, only this time the cherubim aren’t guarding the entrance, but welcoming sinners. You can splash the blood here so that you can come back in God’s plan is unfolding. All right. Next section, let’s look at the courtyard. Chapter 27 I’m gonna read verses one to nine. Then I’ll drop down a little bit. Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high. It is be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. Make a horn at each of the four corners so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. Make all its utensils of bronze, its pots, remove the ashes and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and fire pans. Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. The poles are to be inserted into the ring so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. Make the altar hollow out of boards. Is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain. Make a courtyard for the Tabernacle. The South Side shall be 100 cubits, long as to have curtains of finely twisted linen, we get some more instructions from there and then I’ll drop down to the oil. In verses 20 and 21 command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps may be kept burning in the tent of meeting outside the curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant. Law Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come. So we have this courtyard where all Israel may enter. This isn’t like the most holy place, where only the high priest can go in, anyone can enter, but it is still set apart from the camp. Again, it’s got this fence around it. In fact, the curtains look like the curtains of the tent. Why? Again, it’s to make sure that you don’t inadvertently bring something unclean into God’s holy place, which would be a bad idea. This isn’t like, you know, the kids are playing soccer outside. The ball goes over and they just hop the fence to get the ball back or something like that. So there’s this big separation, again, tall offense materials that are used are similar to the tabernacle, and so even just seeing it from the outside would prepare you for glory. You’d just be able to see, even looking at the fence, His holiness, His royalty, his worth. But if you were to go into the courtyard. Here, the first thing you would notice definitely is the first thing, first thing that’s described here, which is this giant bronze altar, about seven and a half feet square, about four and a half feet high. It’s mentioned first because it’s more important than the space that it’s in. Again, it’s this visual aid God wants to dwell with with us. He wants to dwell with His people. That’s why we get the oil described here. Remember, he’s home. We got a light on for him. He wants to dwell with us, but we cannot enter his presence except by sacrifice. That’s why the altar is there. We’ve read it a couple times in Hebrews right, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness. And here’s where you shed the blood. Cannot enter his presence except by blood. And so the massive size of this altar would almost be a symbol of the massive gap between us and God, the reminder communion comes by sacrifice only. We can’t close that gap by effort. So you can see in all of this, like everything we’ve done so far in chapters 25 to 27 that there’s this tension. Isn’t there because God wants to dwell with His people. His whole purpose is that he dwells with Israel, right there in their midst. But it isn’t easy. It shouldn’t work because of sin, because of who else is there in the camp. How can a holy God dwell with sinful people? And all this visual aid that we’ve been given is showing us just how difficult it is. When I started by talking about how much kids want dad home, which is true, unless, right, like they’re happy when I come home, unless one of them is in timeout. And there’s that whole, when your dad gets home, he’s going to talk to you, and that, that’s the tension we have here, like I want to dwell with dad, but also I deserve punishment. And all of that’s pointing forward. So this is the, the last section. We’re talking about the tabernacle, kind of just as a whole, but we’re just, we’re going through the rest of the Bible now, okay, you thought three chapters was a lot. We got 864 to go. Why? Here’s why. John Owen, the great Puritan theologian, he says this, everything Moses did in erecting the tabernacle and instituting all its services was intended to testify to the person and glory of Christ, which would later be revealed everything we’ve studied so far in 25 to 27 is just getting us ready for Christmas. That’s what this is all about. Why I read it for us last week. But here it is again. John 114 we’re talking about the word, right? The word who was with God and who was God in the beginning, that word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Made his dwelling. It’s the same word, right? It’s the same idea. We could say, Jesus pitched his tent among us. Jesus tabernacled among us. We learn later on in the gospels that Jesus is, in fact, himself, the tabernacle. He is the temple. He says, Destroy this temple, and in three days I’ll build it up again. Jesus is that place where God and His people can meet, which means we learn a lot about what this is saying. God rescued us out of slavery, not in Egypt, but out of slavery to sin, so that, right, here’s the purpose, right, so that he might dwell among us, and His plan is still unfolding. So let’s look at the different elements and see how they point to Jesus, the ark. First of all, look, the ark was not meant to be there forever, which is good, because it wasn’t there forever. It got taken pretty early on, probably when Egypt plundered Jerusalem. It was lost. But the prophet Jeremiah says this, Jeremiah 316, to 17 people will no longer say the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. It will never enter their minds or be remembered. It will not be missed. That’s a remarkable statement. This is where atonement happened. This is how their sins were forgiven. And Jeremiah says we’re not even going to miss it any longer, nor will another one be made at that time. They will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. Well, isn’t that interesting? The Ark is not going to be his throne, but a city with the name Jerusalem, is going to be his throne. And not just Jews, but people from all nations, like every tribe and language and nation and people we might want to say. Are going to come together and worship him there. I’ve read that before. That’s how the story ends. That’s revelation 21 and 22 which we’ll actually look at in a moment. Well, how, though, how can all of these people stream into Jerusalem to worship the Lord when we’re sinners? Why? Well, because Jesus is the ark. You see this Romans chapter three. If you’ve been in Journey groups for a little while, you’ve memorized this before. It says God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement. That phrase, sacrifice of atonement is used the word that’s behind that is used just one time in the New Testament, but it’s the word that’s used to translate Atonement Cover in the Old Testament. This is the lit this is the place where the blood is splashed. In other words, Jesus Christ is the place of atonement where we receive Christ shed blood through faith and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ, Jesus. So Jesus is all at once the atoning sacrifice, the shed blood and the Atonement Cover. It’s all pointing to him. He’s even a better Ark, if you think about it. So the Ark is at one point taken captive by a foreign army, the Philistines, right? They steal it as punishment. God’s punishing his people because of the wicked priests at that time, Eli’s sons, and so it looks like defeat. I mean, the place where God puts his feet just got stolen by the Philistines. They put it in the temple of their false god as like a trinket, like an offering to Him, except what happens Dagon falls on his face in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and his head and his hands break off. So what looked like defeat was actually victory. Does that remind you of anyone, somebody who was taken captive by a foreign army, not because of his sins, but because of the sins of His people, and was put in the grave, and what looked like defeat, but it turns out, was actually total victory. Jesus is the better Ark. He’s also the better table, isn’t he, because he’s the ultimate provision of God. In fact, Jesus got up in front of the crowds and said, I am the bread of life, the bread of the presence. I am what you eat. I am how God provides for you. I am given to sustain you. And he is the lampstand, because he also calls himself the light of the world. In him was life. John tells us, John one, verse four, In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Isn’t that interesting? Life and light brought together? He is the lampstand. That’s why we sing at Christmas time and will, in just a moment, if I ever stop preaching light and life to all he brings. And he calls himself the resurrection and the life. Why? Because to know him is to live. We’ve already seen that he’s the tent because he made his dwelling among us, but he also ensures that God’s presence is portable in the New Covenant too. Wherever we go, God goes with us because He sent His Spirit to dwell within us. Romans, 89 the Spirit of God lives in you. Jesus is, of course, the altar, the priest and the sacrifice in the courtyard. He is the source of our salvation and the grace by which we are made clean to enter. And by the way, we enter all the way in. Because do you remember what happened when they crucified Jesus? The curtain was torn in two, the veil was torn in two, so we can go all the way in to the most holy place. There is no longer separation between God and us. We can all enter in, because we are all cleansed by his blood. And I do mean all of us. Paul tells us in Ephesians, two, verse 18, for through Him, through Jesus Christ, Jews and Gentiles, all who believe in Jesus have access to the Father by one Spirit. So Jesus brings us back to Eden. He restores and consummates God’s perfect plan he has dealt with the wrath, which means there is no more need for the cherubim to keep us out. They’re not barring the entrance. They are waving us in welcome, welcoming us back in because the blood has been applied. And how does it all end? I hinted at this already revelation. 21 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Isn’t it interesting even here, it’s not that we go to heaven to be with God, but God brings heaven. Down to Earth and dwells with us in our midst. Again, this stuff ain’t boring, is it? Some of you get your this part in your Bible reading plan, you’re like, oh so tedious. Not tedious. It’s the glory of Jesus Christ, just in some detailed instructions. And if you were to read, keep reading. I’m not going to because I’m going long already, 36 to 38 we would get all of this information again, just in case you missed it. Now it’d be in a different order, because there must be the order of construction instead of the order of importance, but the exact same information. Why? Because the point there is, they did it all according to God’s plan, they followed his instructions. That’s good news. But here’s the better news, God did it all according to God’s plan, because this was the plan from the beginning to climax in Christ. Here’s your big idea. It should be so obvious, in light of all we’ve talked about, it’s joy. Okay? Rejoice. Rejoice. Because Jesus is the tabernacle, not just the tabernacle, but every part of it. He’s the ark, he’s the sacrifice, he’s the priest, he’s the life, he’s the light, he’s the bread. Because Jesus is the tabernacle, we can dwell with God forever. Rejoice. God made a way for you to live with him rejoice, but also respond. So what do we do in light of this? How do we respond in light of news this good? I can think of two things in particular. First of all, we would respond by coming into His presence regularly. How could we not? There are no more curtains. There are no more cherubim guarding the entrance. There’s no more terror at the possibility of wrath. So Well, I’ll just quote Hebrews, because he says what I want to say, Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. You’ve heard that passage many times before. I want you to hear it today as if you were an Israelite dwelling in the camp, like what would they have thought about news this good? What do you mean? I just approach his throne. I’m not allowed to go into the throne. I can’t approach his throne of grace and to do it without washing, without sacrifice, without blood, no priest to take me in, no because Jesus took care of all of that already. So what can we do with love and grace like that, but go and meet with God, the God who wants to be with us. I mean, just consider the cost of prayer, and let that be a spur to you to spend more time and fellowship with our gracious God. It’s like one of the happiest moments of the week for my boys, at least, because they’re still little, they don’t know what day it is ever is when I come downstairs in the morning and I have my slippers on and not a bag on my shoulder, and they go, Oh, Dad’s home today. He’s not going anywhere today. That’s what we get to feel all day, every day he’s home. I can talk to him whenever I want to. I mean, look, we’re coming up on the new year. Maybe this is a time to make some new year’s resolutions about what you want your prayer life to look like in light of this second, though. So we come into His presence regularly, yes, but we also invite others to come into His presence too. There is a missional imperative in all of this, because all of this is for the nations, the nations, right? I mean, what does Jesus say? He says, I’m the light of the world, right? I’m the lampstand. And then he says, Oh, by the way, if you believe in me, you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. We are God’s lamp stand in the world. That’s why, in Revelation, the seven lamp stands are the seven churches that are there in Asia, minor we have the words of life, so let’s speak them. And as Jake already told us, what better time than Christmas to speak words like these, like let’s make the invitation so people can come and hear why Jesus Christ came into the world. Grab a book, make an invitation to the service, share the Gospel. King David, in one of the Psalms, asks the big question the tension that we felt throughout this passage. Psalm 15 Lord Who may dwell in your sacred tent, who may live on your holy mountain. And then he answers it for us. The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, goes on the rest of the Psalm, you could keep reading it, the one who you know never tells a lie, never slanders anyone, doesn’t accept a bribe, just it’s somebody who always does what’s right, no matter what, in every circumstance, not just their behavior, but their thoughts and their desires as well. So this is actually not good news. Is it that rules all of us out Who may dwell in God’s sacred tent? Nobody, unless someone whose walk is blameless, who is righteous, dies in our place, so we can enter in his and that’s the point, because of what Jesus did, the way is open, sinners can approach a holy God through faith in Jesus Christ, even today. I mean, maybe you’re here because you had a kid or a grand kid singing in choir, and not because you love Jesus. Not yet. Anyway, let today be the day where you come on in. All you got to do is confess that you have done wrong before a holy God, plead Christ’s blood, shed on that heavenly atonement, cover and then come on in. Come on in. All the way rejoicing because Jesus is the tabernacle we can dwell with God forever, starting right now. Let’s pray, Lord, we boldly approach your throne of grace right into the most holy place, speaking to you, face to face, as it were, and yet keenly aware that we should not be here. We have no merit of our own to plead. We have not earned this privilege. We could not earn this privilege. What we have earned is destruction, damnation, exile. We should be kicked out of the camp, never mind the most holy place. And yet here we can be because of your son, who made his dwelling among us, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom we are, some of the worst. That is such good news, Lord, and we rejoice in it even now. We only pray that by your Spirit who dwells within us, that you would help us to respond to that truth as well, in prayer, in study, in evangelicalism and Lord be drawing the hearts of those who have not entered in yet so that they see and believe and come on in. We ask for your name’s sake, amen.