How to Build a Tabernacle: Part 4b

Today's Reading: Exodus 35

Initial thoughts:

So I have posted the conclusion of my study into why God chose to have Israel build a tabernacle at this point in history.


Study:
Click the link to see Part 1 for more info on this chapter study- picking up here working on question number 2.

2. Why build it now?

What is the significance of God's timing here as it fits into biblical history and His dealings with mankind?

Sequence of events: 

Click the link to go to Part 4a to view the sequence of events leading up to the tabernacle.

So God first spoke of a tabernacle in Exodus 25 right when Moses met God on Mt. Sinai the first time. It was the first thing God spoke of…

Exodus 25:1–9 (ESV)25 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “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. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

So this was followed by a description of the tabernacle and the contents and the priests clothes and requirements for various sacrifices and such in order for the priest to come to the Lord for atonement of Israel's sin.  

Prayer:

Lord you had purpose and I know that you speak in multiple directions simultaneously when you speak Lord.  Please help me to see your message here that I might apply this understanding, this truth to my life today.  Please let me not focus on things that do not have real application or purpose for me according to your will.  In Jesus name, amen.

See Jeff that after Adam and Eve sinned, they covered their nakedness and I replaced their effort with a skin of the first creature to ever die.  See that this was the first sacrifice and that from the beginning I set the stage of replacing man's righteousness with my own and of transferring also my wrath from the guilty, whom I love, to the innocent (a substitute).  Remember Jeff, as you read my Word, that the entire story is about my Son, in whom I am well pleased. In His I put my glory, through Him I created all that is, to Him I place everything in submission, this is my beloved.  I am a relational God, Jeff.  I love.  I do my good pleasure yes, but know that my pleasure is wrapped up in the person of my Son and His beautiful sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.  There is none like Him Jeff.  None.

From the Matthew Henry Commentary regarding Adam and Eve covering themselves in shame-

These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were must be slain, slain before their eyes, to show them what death is, and (as it is Eccl. 3:18) that they may see that they themselves were beasts, mortal and dying. It is supposed that they were slain, not for food, but for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice, which, in the latter end of the world, should be offered once for all. Thus the first thing that died was a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure, who is therefore said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. These sacrifices were divided between God and man, in token of reconciliation: the flesh was offered to God, a whole burnt-offering; the skins were given to man for clothing, signifying that, Jesus Christ having offered himself to God a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, we are to clothe ourselves with his righteousness as with a garment, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear. Adam and Eve made for themselves aprons of fig-leaves, a covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves in, Isa. 28:20. Such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them coats of skins; large, and strong, and durable, and fit for them; such is the righteousness of Christ. Therefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ.Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ge 3:21). Peabody: Hendrickson.

See Jeff that the need for sacrifice, lest punishment rest directly on the guilty, was upon mankind after the fall.  However, I did not instruct regarding this need for sacrifice for many years.  I had a great story to tell, a love story to tell that my bride (the church) would know me and would choose me.  I demonstrated who I am by destroying every living thing on earth (save Noah's family and the animal of each kind on the arch).  This illustrated something you would otherwise not have known about me in that way- I hate sin.  Sin separates my creation from me and I hate this.  See how harshly I deal with my beautiful angel that turned and led so many away, separating them from me and how harshly I dealt with all but Seth's lineage (Noah) at the flood.

All mankind…

Genesis 6:5,8-9 (ESV)⁵ The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. ⁹ These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 

Genesis 6:17–18 (ESV)¹⁷ For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

Then there is the Lucifer...

Genesis 3:1 (ESV)3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 

Revelation 20:10 (ESV)¹⁰ and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

So Jeff, there was no written law from the time of Adam until I gave it to Moses.  However, from the time I made sacrifice for Adam and Eve's coverings man has been aware that I require sacrifice due to their iniquity.  See that Cain and Abel brought an offering…

Genesis 4:3–4 (ESV)³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,

Now Jeff , see that I called Abraham and He listened to my voice as I called him to relocate his family twice…

Acts 7:1–4 (ESV)7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ² And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 

Genesis 12:1–4 (ESV)12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

See that Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac was a foreshadowing of a greater sacrifice to be made of my own Son…

Genesis 22:1–2 (ESV)22 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

Genesis 22:9–13 (ESV)⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Jeff, see that I did not intend for Isaac to be sacrificed.  Isaac was a mere man and his sacrifice would only atone for the past and this sacrifice is not adequate.  My Son, however, being God is an eternal sacrifice.  See that I provided a substitute for Isaac in the ram.  My Son is the substitute for all mankind that would trust Him as their high priest and Lord.  His sacrifice is eternal and therefore covers all sins past and future.

Jeff- mankind did not fear me and I needed you to understand who I am as they forgot the flood already.  So therefore Moses I use to deliver the law as a testament to mankind's inability to attain righteousness.  The law (and any attempt to keep it), does not save one soul, but condemns by instructing them of their transgression...

Psalm 36:1–2 (ESV) ¹  Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;
  there is no fear of God
before his eyes.
 ²  For he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. 

Romans 3:19–20 (ESV)¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

See that when I called Moses up to the mountain to give him the law, I first instructed him regarding the tabernacle so that the law would not be an empty condemnation.  It was critical that my people not be hopeless Jeff.  The entire purpose of the law was to reveal your need for a savior, for a substitute.  Also know that I never abolished the law nor will I to allow for forgiveness.  I good judge does not re-write the law to save the repentant murderer, does he?  No.  The righteous and holy judge delivers justice.  Therefore the sacrifices in the tabernacle as my Son's death on the cross did not abolish the law...

Matthew 5:17 (ESV)¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Rather, the law would hold this people accountable and needing atonement. The structure I gave with the sacrifices and offerings in the tabernacle would allow for this atonement (or at least a foreshadowing of the real atonement that was to come) and therefore provide hope.  Of course I could not tell them this atonement was not real or that it was not adequate…this was not the point.  I always deal with the heart Jeff.  I needed Israel to trust me and to surrender themselves to me.  This is saving faith, the rest I handle with my Son.  Those that died under this time of the law were held up in a special place until my Son claimed them with His blood many years later.  See my Son's account of how my people were held up with Abraham until the true sacrifice was made…

Luke 16:22–29 (ESV)²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’

So you see that those believers were at Abraham's side while non-believers were in hades.  This illustrates how the entire old testament history was a foreshadowing of the real atonement.  The entire bible is about my Son Jeff.  Know that to exclude my Son, to not claim Him as your high priest, to not proclaim Him and surrender to Him as Lord is to remain under the law.  There is nothing in the law but condemnation, Jeff.  The law is a sign post…please, please see the sign.  Don't worship the sign…do you see what I deal so harshly with sin?  Sin keeps my creation from me by their own selfish choice.  I hate it.  It killed my Son on a cross.  Do you think it too heavy that I torment the devil in the lake of fire forever and ever?  The penalty matches the crime as I am a perfectly just and righteous judge.

Now notice that before Moses delivered the law or the instruction regarding the tabernacle, Israel sinned greatly with the golden calf.  It was necessary that I reveal my wrath to them and that they understand they had broken the covenant even as it was being delivered.  I cannot make the message clear enough Jeff that I am just and righteous.  Nothing of me can be understood without starting with a right fear…

Psalm 111:10 (ESV) ¹⁰  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!

This is why I had to kill 3,000 of the idol worshipers before bringing Moses back up the mountain to replace the broken tablets (broken covenant) and renew the covenant.  I allowed Moses to dwell near the people for a time and I communicated with him in the tent of meeting.  After a time, I called him back up the mountain for the new tablets and after that point I commanded that they begin collecting materials for construction of the tabernacle.  The people needed to understand that repentance was necessary.  I do not simply require a mouthing of trust in my Son, Jeff.  But saving faith that brings the baptism of the Holy Spirit results in regeneration…in a transformed life.  I needed Israel to dwell on the problem they had and I needed to allow Moses to intercede before constructing the tabernacle.

Conclusion and Implications:

Like most of the old testament, the tabernacle was a foreshadowing of the redemptive plan I built from the foundation of time in my Son.  I gave this as a sign post to explain what purpose my Son would serve so that you would understand.  All of this speaking in parables and using one thing to explain the larger thing is the business of my love story Jeff.  Remember that I will not reveal too much of myself because doing so wold remove you free will and result in immediate robot like surrender.  By using these methods to reveal truth I am able to hide enough of myself to keep your free will and to allow you to choose me by faith, rather than because you have no other choice.  Do you suppose a groom prefers his bride to come to him from duty or choice?

Application and Prayer:

• Today I will recall the beauty of the love story we live
• Today I will keep an understanding that fear is the beginning point
• Today I will know that you cast out fear by offering hope…by casting it our with love

Thank you Lord that you paint such a crazy elaborate picture of this huge process to redeem us in order to explain your love and how you conquered sin to forgive us, all the while retaining your righteousness.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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