PRESSING INTO HIS PRESENCE
Understanding The Tabernacle
Dr. Larry Petton
Text: Exodus 40
Series: Greatest Chapters of the Bible #6
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
God can be worshipped any way you want, as long as you are sincere. True or False?
The biblical answer is FALSE. The popular answer is just the opposite. We have been made to think that the only thing that matters is sincerity, not truth. Did you know that the men who crashed their planes into the Twin Towers in New York City and murdered 3000 innocent people were performing an act of worship sincerely from their hearts?
Sincerity alone is not enough.
If you go to the hospital with a stroke, get your family to call me and I will come and pray. But if you need a heart surgeon and ask me to help……….even though I sincerely love you, I will kill you and send you straight to Jesus because my training is not in surgery.
Sincerity alone is not enough.
The Tabernacle of Moses described in Exodus 25-40 shows how God desires to be worshipped. What is a good definition of true worship?
Here are a few examples:
William Temple: To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.
Louie Giglio: Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.
Warren Wiersbe: Worship is the believer’s response to all they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does.
Who am I to edit a great teacher like Warren Wiersbe? However, because I have a Journalism minor, I love to edit and I would like to edit Wiersbe’s definition just a bit. I would say that true biblical worship is the believer’s response of all they are – spirit, soul and body – to all who God is according to His Word.
So, let’s talk about SERIOUS WORSHIP today. When we examine Exodus 25-40, we see that the Tabernacle of Moses shows us five fantastic facts about what God wants to show us about SERIOUS WORSHIP:
I.GOD IS LOOKING FOR SERIOUS WORSHIPPERS.
When you think of serious worshippers in Scripture, who comes to mind?
Would it be Abraham sacrificing his son on Mt. Moriah?
How about Joseph crying out to God in a dungeon in Egypt?
Maybe it was Moses dying to see the glory of God in the Wilderness?
Or could you consider Elijah praying down fire from Heaven?
I would like to nominate an anonymous woman from Mark 9:25-34. Listen to hear story:
25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
This woman was desperate to touch Jesus. And she not only touched the hem of His rabbinical garment, she touched His heart. That’s serious worship. That’s exactly the kind of heart that God is looking for today.
II.SERIOUS WORSHIPPERS PRESS IN TO THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
Paul stated twice in Philippians 3:12-15 that he desired to “press in” to all that God has for him in Christ, leaving the old life behind. He had been a religious man who was sincere…..but sincerely wrong. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a Jew of Jews and a murderer of Christians. While on his way to finish off even more Disciples, Paul met Someone bigger than himself!
Here is a quote to remember forvever:
THE TURNING POINT IN OUR FAITH COMES WHEN WE STOP WORSHIPPING THE GOD WE WANT…….and START WORSHIPPING THE GOD WHO IS!!
That’s exactly what happened in Paul’s life that changed him forever. He met Christ personally. But he wasn’t satisfied to live in the past glory of that experience. He wanted to go deeper. He wanted to “press in” to Christ.
I had a basketball coach who always talked about pressing. He made us play foul-court pressure defense the entire game. He was always yelling at us to push the ball up the court and press the opposing defense. He taught his players how to be intense.
Are you that intense about worship? Are you pressing beyond where you started years ago? Are you stuck in a rut and stagnant in worship? God is looking for serious worshippers who press in to the Presence of God, just as the Priest in the Tabernacle started at the east gate and worked his way into the Holy of Holies to experience the Skekinah glory of God.
III.SERIOUS WORSHPPERS UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRAISE AND WORSHIP.
I saw a church advertising for people to come to their praise and worship service. What is the difference? Don’t the two words mean the same thing? No.
Praise is ABOUT God.
Worship is TO God.
Praise is horizontal.
Worship is vertical.
Praise focuses on the things God has done and can do. (“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”) God has saved me from sin.
Worship focuses on the Presence of God Himself. (“O, Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made.”). It is a focus on a vertical, personal relationship with the Father in Heaven.
Praise opens the gate to lead us deeper into the Presence of God, where we worship Him.
Praise is the one standing outside of the Tabernacle saying, “What an awesome place God has built!”
Worship is the one who enters into the Holy of Holies and says, “What an awesome God you are!”
The word used most often in the New Testament for worship comes from the Greek word, proskuneo, meaning to “kiss toward”. It described the attitude of Jews who would blow a kiss toward Jerusalem praying for God to send His Messiah to deliver the children of Israel. For us today, proskuneo would imply INTIMACY. Without intimacy, there is no real worship. But, for us to have intimacy, we first of all have to say to the Lord, “INTO ME SEE……INTIMACY.”
Worship is when we look into His Presence and see His awesomeness.
At the same time, worship gives us a clearer picture of our own weakness without God in our lives.
Serious worshippers get that.
IV. SERIOUS WORSHIPPERS PRESS INTO ALL WHO GOD IS WITH ALL WHO THEY ARE.
Paul prayed for the believers at the Church in Thessalonica and asked God to “sanctify them, spirit, soul and body” (I Thess. 5:23). We usually say that backward because we focus on physical things. But God focuses on things that are eternal, like our SPIRIT. That is where the Holy Spirit came to live the moment we trusted Christ as Savior (Romans 8:9). It is the deepest part of our being.
Our SOUL is where we have our mind, emotions and our will.
Our BODY is the rent house God has given us in this world which He now calls the Tabernacle of His Spirit (I Corinth. 3:16, 6:19).
We are made in the image of God and that makes us TRICHOTIMOUS beings, meaning “to have three parts”. God has three parts in one: He is one God, but he is also Father, Son and Spirit. We are made in His likeness and we are three in one: spirit, soul and body.
When it comes to worship, we should give God all of our being – spirit, soul and body. Nowhere is that truth more illustrated than in the Tabernacle.
The Body is our Outer Court.
The Soul (mind, emotions, will) is in the Inner Court in the Holy Place.
The Spirit is represented by the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies.
When we come to worship, we go from natural to spiritual, from earthly to heavenly, from outer court to inner court and from flesh to Spirit. But where is the priest? You are the priest and your body is the Tabernacle.
The Priest was given the responsibility of guarding the gate to make sure nothing came in that was unworthy. If you had a sick lamb…….your offering was rejected. Nothing escaped the attention of the Priest, the guardian of the gate.
Today, you and I are the guardians of our Tabernacle. What do you allow in your Tabernacle that is unworthy of the Lord?
V. SERIOUS WORSHIP IS BEST ILLUSTRATED BY THE TABERNACLE.
There were 7 pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle, all of which remind us of Christ and also picture our worship experience in Christ.
(1)THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING
When a Jewish worshipper came for worship, he brought his goat or lamb offering to the east gate. There he came through the gate and was met by the Priest. If the lamb or goat offering was accepted, the Priest took the life of the lamb and placed it on the Altar of Burnt Offering.
We enter His gates of worship by the blood of Christ’s offering.
JESUS is the only way to Heaven.
JESUS is the only one who pleased the Father perfectly.
JESUS is the only Name by which we can be saved.
JESUS is the only one who can allow us to see the Father.
(2)THE BRONZE LAVER
The next place of worship was the BRONZE LAVER where the Priest would wash his bloody hands before being able to go deeper into the Presence of God. Once we have trusted Christ, we have entered into the possibility of true worship. We come to God by the sacrifice of Jesus and then we have to examine our hearts before we go deeper into the Inner Court.
Mom used to call me for supper as I was out playing baseball with all of the neighborhood kids in Dallas. She would say, “Come for supper, Larry………it’s time to eat. And wash your hands before you come to the table!”
Before we can feast on the things of Christ in worship, we have to be clean. We have already been forgiven of all sins in Christ – past, present and future – and our sins are separated as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 139:1-13). Our RELATIONSHIP is sealed, solid and unchangeable. However, our FELLOWSHIP with Christ is static, daily and dependent upon our obedience. You can have a relationship with Christ and lose your fellowship. Lot did that very thing in the Book of Genesis (Gen. 19).
To restore our fellowship, we don’t need to be saved all over again and have a complete bath! (John 13). We need to “confess” (agree with God) on the things in our lives that do not belong. That is cleansing. And that is absolutely necessary for genuine worship.
(3)THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD
The Priest is about to go into the Most Holy Place. It is said that some Jews called the gates to each section of the Tabernacle by a nickname – the Way, the Truth and the Life. Scripture does not indicate this, but it does tell us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). As the Priest enters into the Most Holy Place, he might look down at the bottom of his garments and remember the bells sewn into his clothing. Why were they there? The bells were there to let the people outside know that the priest was alive and ministering in the Tabernacle and God had accepted their offering. If God refused their offering, He would kill the priest. A rope was tied to his leg to drag him in case that happened! I’m sure glad I didn’t pastor in those days!
Inside the Holy Place, the Priest encounters the Table of Showbread. His focus was upon the power of God to provide for His people. Manna from the desert was laid on the table to remind the priest. When we come to worship, we should begin by praising God for all that He has done (Psalm 100).
(4)THE ALTAR OF INCENSE
Next, the Priest would see the Altar of Incense, a place of prayer. The incense would arise inside the Holy Place with a sweet aroma the same way our prayers arise to the throne of God. There is no real worship without real prayer.
(5)THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK
The light inside the Holy Place was provided by the Golden Candlestick. It is the Word of God that illumines our darkened minds to help us to understand the ways of God. Without the Word, there is no real worship, because it is the very breath of God to guide us in our worship (II Timothy 3:16; Psalm 119).
Now the Priest is ready to pass into the Holy of Holies and see the glory of God! The first thing he encounters is the Veil.
(6) THE VEIL
When Jesus died on the Cross at exactly 3 pm as prophesied in Exodus 12, the veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. It was torn from the top to show that it was not done by man or by natural events, such as an earthquake. God opened the veil and made a statement that, because of what Christ did on the Cross, now all have access to come to the Father through Jesus.
When the Priest went inside the Veil, he went into the Holy of Holies, as deeply as he could go in worship.
Going beyond the veil now shows us a picture of the three types of believers in Christ found in I John 2:12-14:
FATHERS – those who are spiritually mature, who can reproduce their faith and carry the burdens of another; one who goes deep into the Presence of God in worship (Holy of Holies). Christ is their LIFE.
YOUNG MEN – those who are growing in Christ and getting stronger; they know the TRUTH of God, but they are not walking in the life or power of the Holy Spirit to overcome yet. These believers are in the Most Holy Place, but need to press deeper in to His Presence. They are living an up and down Christian life because they live mostly in the SOUL area of their being --- what they think, what they feel, what they want.
LITTLE CHILDREN – those who are spiritual babies, who have not grown up yet, maybe even after years of being saved. Christ is Resident in their heart……but not President. These believers have entered into the Way by faith in Christ, but they are not walking in the TRUTH or the LIFE. They are living a carnal Christian life focused on physical things in the Outer Court.
These three areas are also depicted in John 15 when Jesus talked about the three types of fruit bearers in His Kingdom:
THOSE WHO PRODUCE FRUIT – the little children living in the Outer Court, with a focus on physical things.
THOSE WHO PRODUCE MORE FRUIT – the strong young men living in the Holy Place with a focus on a “soulish” life based on their mind or emotions.
THOSE WHO PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT – the spiritual fathers living in the Holy of Holies and experiencing the life of the Spirit.
Which one of these best describes the spiritual condition of our life right now???
(7)THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
Inside of the Holy of Holies, the Priest discovers the essence of the Shekinah glory of God. Imagine that experience for a moment. Yet, Paul says we know Christ better than that! (II Corinthians 5:17-20). The Ark of the Covenant was a holy treasure to Israel. Only the priests could touch it. Any other person would die on the spot……and some did when the Ark was moved to Jerusalem!
The Ark contained three items that reflected God’s blessings upon Israel and pointed to Christ:
The Tables of Law – given to Moses
The rod of Aaron that blossomed with almonds
The point of manna
HERE IS AN AWESOME PICTURE OF CHRIST, THE ARK OF OUR SALVATION!!
He has the tables of the Law of God in His heart.
He is the Bread of Life.
He came back to life because He was God in the flesh!
On top of the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat where the Priest placed the blood of the sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. Think of it…….we have traveled all the way from the east gate, through the bronze laver, into the Most Holy Place and finally into the Holy of Holies only to find that, deep in the Presence of God, is a picture of the Cross. Christ is our Mercy Seat. He placed His blood over our sin and covered us in His perfect offering!
God showed John, alone on the Isle of Patmos, what was happening right now in Heaven --- the saints of God are worshipping around the throne and the Lamb of God is in the middle (Revelation 4-5). They are worshipping Him and saying of Christ, “You are the Lamb of God……..you are worthy……….for you were slain from the foundation of the world and by your blood we are saved!”
YOU CAN’T GO ANY DEEPER THAN THE CROSS! That is the deepest experience of worship you can have when God shows you what He has done for you through the death of Jesus for your sins on the Cross.
So, what is the Holy Spirit saying to you today?
Are you outside of the Tabernacle? Come to Christ today and trust Him as your only hope for Heaven.
Are you a spiritual baby who needs to get growing spiritually? Get in the Word of God, learn how to pray and find a more experienced believer in Christ who will mentor you.
Are you living in victory and experiencing the power of His Presence in your life? Stay humble and beware of the flesh, the world and the Devil.
Above all, give Christ YOUR WHOLE BEING TODAY……..let Him have your whole heart.
The story is told of a pastor who had a dream about his own church. He could see his praise team singing, his choir singing and his worship leader singing…………but no sound came out of their mouths. He could see himself preaching, but there was no sound. He could see his large congregation singing, but there was no sound.
Finally, the pastor heard a little girl in the back of the worship center singing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound……that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.”
Then the pastor woke up. God spoke to him and said, Do you understand this dream, Pastor? I can’t hear you preaching, I can’t hear your praise leaders singing or even most of your people. Their hearts are far from me. But I can hear the pure, innocent heart of the little girl on the back row that no one knows but me. She gave me her whole heart in worship.”
Give Him your whole heart…………..press in deeper into His Presence.
Dr. Larry Petton
Please contact me if you have questions on how to go deeper in worship.
larrypetton@yahoo.com
