We come to church every Sunday and that makes us feel (sometimes) that we are the ones coming to God.
• But the truth is, it’s the other way around. God is the One coming for us.
• He came to us and He came for us in Jesus Christ. And He is the One who wants to be with us today.
This is the big message of the building of the TABERNACLE that we read about in the last part of EXODUS.
• You might have noticed that the last part of Exodus chapters 35-40 regarding the building of the tabernacle, is a repetition, almost verbatim, of the material from chapters 25-31.
• You’re right, they are basically the same. The earlier chapters records the PLAN for the construction and its furnishings, and the later chapters tell us the EXECUTION of it, the actual construction of it.
[Read Exodus 25:1-9]
God instructed Moses to tell the people: “I will dwell among them.”
• He says, MAKE A SANCTUARY FOR ME and I will dwell among them. And so came the detailed instructions to build THE TABERNACLE.
• This is the reason for the tabernacle – it is His sanctuary, His dwelling place.
• And it must be built in the midst of the people, because that’s its purpose. God wants to be with His people. He need not have to, but He wants to.
It’s like seeing your friend at your door one day with a pillow and mattress, and everything he needs to stay-over, and he tells us, “I want to be with you. I’m staying with you.”
Capture God’s heart here. He wants to be with you. This has been God’s desire right from the beginning, when He made Adam and Eve.
• Not to leave them in the Garden, but to walk with them and commune with them in the Garden.
• That’s why Moses called it the TENT OF MEETING, where God meets man.
And if they are travelling in the wilderness, this dwelling place needs to be mobile.
• It cannot be a permanent building; it must be portable.
• That explains why the construction of it is so complex. You have to dismantle it, move it, and rebuild it.
• You need to carry the furniture easily, and so the poles and the hooks.
Through the tabernacle, man can meet God. Man can commune with God and knows God.
GOD WANTS TO BE WITH HIS PEOPLE
Christianity is not so much about you desiring God as it is about God desiring you.
• It is God’s desire. He wants to be with you.
• When Jesus came, John said it this way: “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14)
God says, “I will dwell among them.” (25:8)
• Jesus’ parting words to the disciples were: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:20)
• Theologically, you can never be alone. So don’t equate God’s silence with His absence.
• He is with you always. It’s just that sometimes He seems to be quieter than usual.
Do I have such experience? Of course. He seems to have disappeared. And you question yourself – What wrong have I done? Is He angry with me?
• But God’s silence is not God’s absence, always remember that.
When God seems silent, check this out: Have we stopped listening? Are we too distracted by the cares of this world to notice Him? Have we neglected His Word? Has the noise of this world drowns His voice out?
• The problem will not be on His side; it is on our side.
• When God seems absent, He's present.
If it is His dwelling place, then it must depicts His person and befits His character.
• It cannot be any ordinary tent. When the people draws near, they must know who they are approaching and how to prepare themselves.
• God therefore gave Moses detailed instructions. Imagine this, God created the world in 6 days (> 1 chapter) but He used 40 days to instruct Moses about the tabernacle (6 chapters).
This is important to God. Why? GOD WANTS TO CONNECT WITH HIS PEOPLE
Although the tabernacle does not provide the perfect communion – not face-to-face, not intimate, through intermediaries - because man is sinful and God is holy - it is at least an avenue. It provides a way of connection.
• Sin is in the way, no doubt. It stands before us and God. This is reflected in the construction of the tabernacle and in the sacrifices that man needs to make.
• The tent curtains served as separators between God and man.
But at least, there is still a means for man to come before God. The tabernacle facilitates communion with a holy God.
• God designed it and God initiated it because God wants to commune with His people.
• Man can approach God, but he needs to be prepared – consecrate themselves and make the sacrifices.
It wasn’t the perfect setup – because the perfect plan will come with Jesus Christ.
• But the tabernacle is God’s way of providing a solution for a holy God to dwell in the midst of His sinful people and connect with them.
• Until Jesus comes, when the perfect Lamb of God offers Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, this will be what the Israelites need to do.
God wants to COMMUNE with you. He doesn’t want you to simply know He is around.
• You are created for communion with God!
• And if you are not communicating with Him, you are not living out your full purpose in life. Something is missing - your communion with God.
Exo 40:36 “In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out - until the day it lifted. 38So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.”
• This will suffice, if God just want the people to know that He is around. You have the cloud in the days and the pillar of fire in the nights.
• But He wants more than that. He wants the people to keep to the festivals and offer the sacrifices.
• He wants to you to draw near, and not see Him from afar.
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What amazes me in the reading of Exodus is that they were able to build this tabernacle in the wilderness. It’s not a simple task. It’s tough just reading it!
Where did they get all the resources and the materials? From the people, of course.
• Exo 35:4-6 “Moses said to the whole Israelite community, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 5From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze…”
• Exo 35:20-22 “Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, 21and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewellery of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.”
• Exo 35:29 “All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.”
GOD PROVIDES WHAT IS REQUIRED for His will to be done
Where did they get these from? I believe mainly from the Egyptians:
Exo 12:35-36 “The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36The LORD had made the Egyptians favourably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.”
Exo 36:3b-7 [Stop the Collection]
And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work 5 and said to Moses, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done."
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
God also provided the skills and abilities they will require in building the tabernacle.
Exo 35:30-35
30Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - 32to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship.
34And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers - all of them master craftsmen and designers.
Exo 36:2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work.
Nothing of man. All of God.
God wants to BE with you. God wants to CONNECT with you. God provides ALL that is required for His will to be done.
• We have nothing to fear today. We have everything to thank God for.
