The Israelites had just left their slavery in Egypt, and they’d been in the desert for about a month, and had met their God at the base of a mountain called Sinai. (that’s the setting of our text today)
Someone once estimated that the nation of Israel (as they were at Mt. Sinai) numbered approximately 3 ½ million people. That’s about as many people as there are in the cities of Chicago and Indy combined. And the Israelites were going to have to survive in the desert for next 40 years. It would have required about 500 tons of food each day to feed those people. That’s the equivalent of 2 freight trains, each a mile long to hold it all that food. Then it would have needed 4000 tons of firewood each day to cook that food. And the water! That many people would have needed 3,000,000 gallons of water every day just to have enough to drink. And when they set up camp… their tent city would have covered an area approximately 2/3’s the size of Rhode Island (25 miles by 30 miles).
How could Moses have supplied all that for the people of Israel? Well, that’s an enormous responsibility. Moses had just led Israel out of slavery into an unforgiving desert. How was he going to help the Israelites survive? How could he have been equal to such an overwhelming task? Well, he wasn't! Moses was not equal to the task. Moses could never have kept the Israelites ALIVE in the wilderness. But then – of course – that wasn’t his job. That was God’s job. I could picture Moses saying “I can’t do it. But I know a God who can. And I think I’m just gonna let him take care of it.” You see, that was the whole point of God asking Israel MAKE the Tabernacle. God declared “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Exodus 25:8
Now, God was always going to be the midst of them. He would always take care of things. He’d never leave them… and He’d never forsake them. He would always supply for their needs. But they needed to know God was there. And it was NOT like God really needed a sanctuary to dwell in. The Tabernacle wasn’t for God to live in… it was for Israel to look at. Every time they looked at the Tabernacle… it was a reminder that God was saying “I’M HERE… I’m HERE WITH YOU!”
Now… why should I care? Why does it matter TO ME that God wanted this tabernacle? Well, in the New Testament, Hebrews 8:5 says that The priests “serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’” The tabernacle was a message (even to US as Christians) about what God’s plans were. This Sanctuary God wanted was not just some tent you could buy at Walmart. It was a symbol of something God wanted us to understand. That’s why it had to be built according to the PATTERN.
So what was it that God wanted us to see here? Well 1st, God could have created that tabernacle with just a word of power. He could have spoken and it would have appeared. But God didn’t do that. God told Moses: “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.” Exodus 25:1
Now, this was not a mandated amount. It wasn’t the tithe (10th of your income). God was asking for an additional offering… as a gift to Him. God was essentially saying – If you want ME in your midst I want you to be invested in that reality.
ILLUS: Back after Covid ran its course a man approached me (not a member) and he informed me that he was not going to be giving as much as he had. He knew how Covid might have hurt our offerings, and so he had increased his giving during that time. He wanted me to know (now that Covid had passed) that he was going back to his original amount he usually gave. I explained that I was honored that he’d done that, but no one here KNEW what he’d given. We didn’t keep track of what people gave. But this man was INVESTED in this church… because he liked you, he sensed God’s presence here, and he was contributing to that.
ILLUS: Now our church funds have grown a little tight over the past year. A couple weeks ago we forgot to emphasize offering plates during our Unity service… and offerings were down that week. And then LAST week we only had 41 people here because of the snow storm. And I’m sure the offering wasn’t real big then either.
Lately, the Elders have begun to wonder what they could CUT BACK on to make sure they’d have enough to meet essential bills. And one of the things they considered was the monthly church Newsletter. It costs about $80 a month to send them out… and maybe we shouldn’t be sending them out every month. Or perhaps not sending them out… at all. Now that frustrated me because I’ve been doing Newsletters my entire ministry. I’ve always considered them to be an integral part of … what I do. So I spent a lot of time in prayer and consideration and I’ve come to the conclusion that if I felt they were that important… I needed to invest in the them financially. So, beginning this week, I’m upping my tithe check by $20 a week which will cover the cost of their being mailed. Essentially I was putting my money where my mouth was.
So, 1st God challenged Israel to be invested in His presence by contributing to the Tabernacle. And (in turn) God gave Israel the Tabernacle because it was God’s declaration that He was INVESTED in Israel. He was going to dwell among them.
The 2nd thing I noticed was that, unlike God’s walking with Adam and Eve and Enoch, and Noah and Abram (which we talked about last week, and where God walking with INDIVIDUALS), the tabernacle was God’s way of saying – something had changed. Now He was saying “I’m going to walk with a nation. Israel is going to be MY people and I’m going to dwell with them… as their God.”
(PAUSE)
Now, the tabernacle had one additional reminder that God dwelt among them. Over the tabernacle was a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. Exodus 40:36-38 tells us “Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. So, wherever Israel went… God was right there with them (dwelt among them). That was the whole point of the pillar of cloud/fire. Whenever the pillar of cloud/fire moved… the people moved. But (notice this) God didn’t follow Israel where they went. Israel followed God where HE led them.
As a church… that should be a truth for us as well. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul wrote “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” So, as a body of believers, the Spirit of God is right here in our midst. Just like Israel where GOD was in their midst. And we need to realize that we must follow God wherever HE leads us, just like Israel was to follow God where He led.
On the marquee out front there is a name for our church. We’re called the CHURCH OF CHRIST. Now, that’s not the name of our building. That’s a declaration that we are a church who desires to follow Jesus. It’s not MY Church and it’s not YOUR church. Whose church is it? (it’s Christ’s church). It’s Christ’s church because we are Christ’s Temple… and His spirit lives in us! Jesus doesn’t FOLLOW us. We FOLLOW HIM! And if we do it right, Jesus will look good to others around us.
Now remember, the Tabernacle was God’s reminder to Israel that He was dwelling with them. (Exodus 25:8) But it wasn’t just a reminder to Israel, the Tabernacle was a prophecy about Jesus. Last week we read Matthew 1:23 which says "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).”
But that’s not the only New Testament verse that tells us that. Jesus was “God dwelling with us.” Remember – the tabernacle was God’s reminder that He was with Israel. In the Gospel of John 1:14 we’re told this: “And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and DWELT among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
That word “DWELT” in John 1:14 is interesting because in the Greek it means – “Tabernacle.” So literally, John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and TABERNACLED amongst us.”
BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE. Like I said earlier the Tabernacle PROPHECIED about Jesus. You see, the Tabernacle was to be constructed (to be set up) according to THE PATTERN. And the pattern was this: At the bottom of the picture is the ALTAR OF SACRIFICE; Above that is the BRAZEN LAVER a place of washing; Inside the first room of the Tabernacle was the TABLE OF SHEWBREAD – on the right; And the CANDLESTICKS – the only source of light in the Tabernacle. In front of the curtain to the Holy of Holies was the ALTAR OF INCENSE; And inside the Holy of Holies was the ARK OF THE COVENANT. The layout was ALWAYS the same because the Tabernacle was made according to THE PATTERN.
Now, what did that have to do with Jesus? Well, look at this next picture: (a depiction of the layout of the Tabernacle furniture). Do you see how the furniture was laid in the shape of a cross? That alone would prophesy about Jesus: The ALTAR OF SACRIFICE (at bottom) spoke of Jesus’ sacrifice on cross; The BRAZEN LAVER spoke of the cleansing Jesus offers us in His blood; The TABLE OF SHEWBREAD – indicated that Jesus was the bread of life; The CANDLESTICKS illustrated that Jesus was the Light of the world; The ALTAR OF INCENSE pointed to Jesus’ interceding for us; And the ARK OF THE COVENANT was where the blood of Jesus covered our sins.
Jesus came to TABERNACLE amongst us, because Jesus was Immanuel – GOD WITH US. The Tabernacle was a SIGN that pointed to Jesus. A sign that pointed ultimately to the hill of Calvary.
CLOSE: There was once a nightclub that was called “The Gates of Hades”. The story goes that a newcomer to the city was looking for this nightclub and stopped a policeman to ask directions. It so happened that there was a church on that same street called “Calvary Church” and when the man asked the policeman for directions, the cop replied: “If you want to get to the Gates of Hades, you’ll have to go past Calvary.”
INVITATION
