Ryan and Morgan adopted a child from an orphanage in another country. They'd passed through all the legal processes in that country. Charlie was their son. But right before the day when they were supposed to pick Charlie up from the orphanage, there were some political upheavals, and the country froze the process. No more children were going to be able to leave the country.
Charlie could not come to Ryan and Morgan. So, they decided to go to him. They flew over from the US and basically camped outside of the orphanage. They spent half their time with their son and the other half lobbying the courts and meeting with government officials, pleading with them to release their son.
After a few weeks, Morgan came home, but Ryan stayed. It was at Christmas time. This was not where he wanted to be at Christmas—away from home, far from family. But he was a father who loved his son. Since his son could not come to him, he was going to go to that son, and he was going to fight for that son. There would be more days and weeks of struggle, but, wonderfully, Ryan was eventually able to bring Charlie home (J. D. Greear, Searching For Christmas, The Good Book Company, 2020, p. 45-46; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s a picture of what God did for us. He left the riches of heaven to come to a world of pain, all because He loves us, all because He wants to be with us.
Do you want to get to know your Heavenly Father a little better? Then, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 26, Exodus 26, where God gives instructions for His tent, so He can camp out with His people before He brings them home to glory.
Exodus 26:1-6 “Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another. And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole (ESV).
This is a magnificent tent with a beautiful inner curtain. It is white linen in which craftsmen will embroider heavenly beings (the cherubim) with blue, purple, and scarlet yarns.
Now, only the inhabitant of the tabernacle will see this curtain. That’s because God instructs Moses to lay three other curtains on top of this one in verses 7-14. God instructs Moses to put a white goat hair curtain on top of the inner curtain, a ram’s skin curtain dyed red on top of the goat hair curtain, and a goatskin curtain on top of it all.
From the outside, the tabernacle will look like a typical Bedouin tent. But from the inside, only God and the priests who minister in His presence will see the beautiful white, blue, purple, and scarlet curtain.
White reflects the purity of its Inhabitant. Blue reflects His divinity. Purple reflects His royalty. And scarlet looks to the sacrifice God will make to be with His people. The Pure, Divine King from heaven will forfeit everything to dwell with the likes of you and me. So, more than anything…
APPRECIATE HIS PRESENCE this morning.
Find comfort in His nearness to you today. Enjoy His company today and every day.
F. B. Meyer, 19th Century British evangelist, put it this way: “Little children, if they were startled at night by the howl or cry of the wild beasts of the wilderness, would take heart… when their parents reminded them that the light that shone softly over the sleeping-camp issued from Jehovah’s tent.”
Sleeping near the tabernacle, with the Shekinah glory shining overhead, would comfort not only the children, but their parents, as well.
Now, in a direct reference to this Old Testament tabernacle, the Apostle John uses the same language to describe Christ’s coming to this earth.
In John 1, He says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [literally, He tabernacled among us; He pitched His tent among us] and we have seen his glory [the Shekinah glory], glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).
Jesus is the comforting presence of God on this earth. And it takes four gospels to describe Him just like the four colors of the inner curtain reflect the tabernacle’s Inhabitant. Matthew focuses on His purple royalty. Mark focuses on His scarlet sacrifice. Luke focuses on His white, sinless humanity. And John focuses on His blue, heavenly divinity. Jesus is the God-Man, Servant-King, who came to dwell in a tent with us!
Kevin Martin was pastor of a large, mega church, which after a while became a heavy burden for him. The administrative machine ate him up, and his world was blackened with depression. At one point he was so depressed, so crushed, that he hastily wrote a letter to his board, immediately resigning from office, and then wrote a letter to his wife and his children saying he would never see them again.
Kevin got in his Buick and drove up to Newfoundland, Canada, without anybody knowing where he was. He got a job as a logger. It was winter. He lived in a small metal trailer, heated at night by a small metal heater. One night, when it was 20 below, the heater stopped working. In a rage, Kevin picked up the heater with both his hands and chucked it out the window. Then he realized that was a stupid thing to do, for it was 20 below.
He threw himself on the ground and started pounding the floor of this small metal trailer. As he pounded on the floor, he yelled out to heaven, “I hate you! I hate you! Get out of my life! I am done with this Christian game. It is over!” Then he went into a fetal position.
Kevin writes, I couldn’t even cry. I was too exhausted to cry. As I laid there, I heard crying, and heaving breaths, but they were not coming from me. Instead, in the bright darkness of faith, I heard Christ crying, and heaving away on the Cross. And then I knew, the blood was for me: for the Kevin who was the abandoner, the reckless wanderer, the blasphemer of heaven. And then the words rose up all around me: “Kevin, I am with you, and I am for you, and you will get through this. I promise you.”
Kevin rose to his feet, got into his car, sped back home, and reconciled with his family and his church. Then he went on to lead the church he left in a much more healthy way (Ethan Magness, “Lamb DNA – An All Saints Homily – Rev 7,” Grace Anglican Online, 11-1-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
Oh dear believer, in the dark night of your soul, please hear the words of Christ, the One who pitched His tent with you: “I am with you, and I am for you, and you will get through this. I promise you.” Appreciate the comfort of His presence as reflected in the beautiful, multi-colored inner curtain of the tabernacle.
Then, appreciate the comfort of your Savior’s presence as reflected in the structure of the tabernacle itself. Now, the priests had to hang the inner curtain with the three outer curtains on something. So God describes the frames on which those curtains will hang.
Exodus 26:15-30 “You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. There shall be two tenons in each frame, for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side; and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons; and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames, and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear; they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners. And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame. “You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain (ESV).
Craftsmen made the frames of readily available acacia wood from a tree which grows in the desert (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew English Lexicon of the Old Testament). Then they overlaid that wood with gold and set each frame in silver bases.
Now, from the size of these frames, when you convert cubits to feet and put them all together, you come up with a tent 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. That’s about the average size for a royal tent in Bible days. For the King of Heaven is going to dwell there with His people.
However, that will come at a cost. The silver bases held the structure level and secure, and the curtains hung on silver hooks. So where did all this silver come from?
Warren Wiersbe suggests that it came from every adult male (20 years and older), who paid a silver, sanctuary shekel to ransom his life when the nation’s leaders took a census (Exodus 30:11-16, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament). Every adult male made this offering (in the Hebrew, koper) to make atonement (kapar) for his life to the Lord. That is to say, every man paid a silver shekel in exchange for his life.
Mark 10:45 says, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus gave His life, not as a ransom for Himself, but as a ransom for everyone who puts their trust in Him. That ransom price is the foundation for the tabernacle and the foundation for our relationship with God.
In The Hunger Games, the plot revolves around a horrible contest fought between 24 young representatives of 12 futuristic districts. The winner of the Hunger Games is the last one standing as the contestants are forced to kill each other to stay alive. When the authorities come to choose the contestants—one boy and one girl—from District 12 for the 74th annual Hunger Games, they pluck the name of Primrose (or Prim) Everdeen from a large bowl containing all the children's names. As the authorities lead Primrose away, her older sister Katniss suddenly intervenes and shouts Prim's name. The guards stop Katniss from approaching Prim, but Katniss shouts, “No! I volunteer! I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!” So Katniss becomes the representative for District 12, willing to die in her little sister’s place.
As it turns out, Katniss survives the Hunger Games, which brings her closer than ever to her sister and starts a revolution that eventually changes the culture.
That’s what Jesus did for us when He came to dwell with us. He volunteered to die in our place on the cross. Only, He survived! He rose from the dead; and now, His offering forms the basis for a close relationship with Him. All you have to do is trust Him with your life to enjoy His presence forever.
Now, Katniss was willing to die in her sister’s place. Jesus, on the other hand, died for the likes of you and me.
Pastor Gary Millar says, “He takes the place of people like the cowardly disciples, the scheming religious leaders, and spineless politicians. He takes the place of people like the blood-stained Barabbas and the cursing criminal… We are the reason that Jesus died. How could we ever take this for granted?” (Gary Millar, “Jesus, Betrayed and Crucified,” PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, when you think about Jesus as reflected in the tabernacle, appreciate His presence with you today. Then…
RESPECT HIS DISTANCE.
Revere His holiness. Venerate the space He puts between Himself and His people.
You see, while God camps among His people, He chooses to hide His presence behind two veils in His tent. The first veil separates the two inner rooms of the tabernacle. It separates the holy place where the priests served from the most holy place where God resided.
Exodus 26:31-35 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side (ESV).
The table with bread for the priests, along with the 7-branched lampstand, stood in the holy place. The ark of the covenant, with the mercy seat on top, stood in the most holy place. Now, no one went behind the veil covering the most holy place except the high priest. And he dared to venture there only once a year with a rope tied to his foot lest he die in God’s presence. That way the other priests could pull his body out without having to risk their own lives, as well.
Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
So appreciate His presence, but respect His distance behind two veils, as well. The first veil covered the most holy place, and the second veil covered the entrance to the tabernacle, itself.
Exodus 26:36-37 “You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them (ESV).
That veil, or screen, hung behind five gold-plated pillars, which concealed the entrance to God’s tent. You see, God is near to, but separate from, His people. So appreciate His presence, but respect His distance, as well.
When Jesus taught us to pray, He taught us to address God as, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).
That is to say God is both near (He is our Father) and He is far (He is in heaven). He is both loving and holy, i.e., wholly other. He is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He is close to His own, but very distinct. He is intimate, but also infinite. So respect Him, as such, and hallow His name.
Musician and author Carolyn Arends talks about meeting a man several years ago who learned she was from Vancouver. He had lived there years earlier, and after asking if a particular music shop was still in the city, he told her a story.
His wife was a piano major at the University of British Columbia. When they went piano shopping as newlyweds, the saleswoman led them straight to the entry-level models. The man told Carolyn, “She had us pegged exactly right. We didn’t have two nickels to rub together. We were going to have to borrow the money to get the cheapest instrument there.”
Everything changed, however, when the name of the prospective buyer’s mentor—a world-renowned master teaching at the university—came up in conversation. The saleswoman was panic-stricken. “Not these pianos!” she exclaimed, herding the couple away from the economy section and into a private showroom of gleaming Steinways. “I’m so sorry,” she kept repeating, horrified at the thought of the teacher finding out she’d shown one of his students an inferior instrument. Try as they might, they could not persuade her to take them back to the pianos they could afford. Once the master’s name came up, only the best would do.
Carolyn comments, “I’m beginning to suspect that my understanding of what it means to hallow God’s name has barely scratched the surface. But if we pray as he taught us, our reverence and care for his name will grow. That’s when we’ll begin to exchange our cheap instruments of self-interest for the costly Cross of Christ—the only instrument worthy of our Master’s name (Carolyn Arends, “So, Who Hallows God’s Name?” Christianity Today, Jan/Feb, 2013, p. 72; www.PreachingToday.com).
When you revere God’s name, you dare not cheapen His grace.
Now, when Jesus died on the cross, that inner veil was torn in two from top to bottom. It gave us direct access to God like we never had before. But we revere Him no less.
Eugene Peterson once put it this way: Sometimes I think that all religious sites should be posted with signs reading, “Beware the God.” The places and occasions that people gather to attend to God are dangerous. They're glorious places and occasions, true, but they're also dangerous. Danger signs should be conspicuously placed, as they are at nuclear power stations (Eugene Peterson, Leap over a Wall HarperOne, 1998, p. 144; www.PreachingToday.com).
To be sure, God is love, but He is holy, as well. He is near, but He is also far. He desires intimacy with His people, but He is infinitely beyond them.
Pastor Clayton Bell says, “There are two big lies that Satan has been perpetrating ever since the Garden of Eden. The first is that God is mean, vindictive, a spoilsport whose main role in life is to keep us from being fulfilled and happy—when we step out of bounds, he takes delight in making us pay.
“The second lie is that God really doesn't care what we do--probably doesn't know. And if he does, his business is to forgive us. He'll always forgive no matter what, so it really doesn't make much difference how we live and what we believe” (B. Clayton Bell, “Many Happy Returns,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 135).
Oh no! Nothing could be further from the truth. God wants to enjoy life with you; but at the same time, He wants to make you holy like Himself.
So, appreciate His presence, to be sure, but also respect His distance.
The old hymnwriter put it well, when he wrote, “Holy, holy, holy, MERCIFUL AND MIGHTY, God in three persons, Blessed Trinity” (John Bacchus Dykes). God is merciful, to be sure, but He is also very mighty, worthy of our highest respect and praise.
Novelist Kurt Vonnegut said of one of his most recurrent characters, “Kilgore was the only character I ever created who had enough imagination to suspect that he might be the creation of another human being. He said, ‘The way things are going, all I can think of is that I’m a character in a book by somebody who wants to write about somebody who suffers all the time.’”
In one scene when Kilgore is sitting content at a bar, he is suddenly overwhelmed by someone that has entered the room. Beginning to sweat, he becomes uncomfortably aware of a presence disturbingly greater than himself. The author himself, Kurt Vonnegut, has stepped beyond the role of narrator and into the book itself, and the effect is as bizarre for Kilgore as it is for the readers.
Vonnegut came to explain to Kilgore face-to-face that his life is all due to the pen and whims of an author who made it all up for his own sake. In this twisted ending, Kilgore is forced to conclude that apart from the imagination of the author he does not actually exist (Jill Carattini, “Into the Story” RZIM.org, 7-17-17; www. PreachingToday.com).
That’s a little what it was like for the Author of history to step into human history as the God-Man, Servant-King. God became one of us and pitched His tent among us. Sure, we tremble in His presence, but we also find comfort in His presence, knowing that He is working all things together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
