The Tabernacle

Exodus Tabernacle

Text: Exodus 25-40

Intro: I grew up looking at Lookout Mountain, and to me, it was no big deal. Mountains and ridges were a part of my life growing up. We took vacations to the beach. Specifically, we went to Marineland, Florida, which no longer exists; it was Seaworld for poor people. You will find two things on the road when you come down mountains: first, there will be pull-offs for scenic overlooks, and if you grew up in the mountains, then you never stopped at these areas because you were used to the views. Second, there were emergency runoffs on interstates for 18-wheelers. Sidenote: if you come down Monteagle Mountain, which is between Nashville and Chattanooga, the runoffs are on the left, so if trucks lose their brakes and need to get off quickly, they have to come across all of the lanes of traffic to use the runoffs. When Gov. McWherter announced how safe the new interstate was on Monteagle at its grand opening, a wreck was occurring because of that design.

To review: God has rescued the children of Israel from Egypt through an unexpected deliverer. Moses, born a Jew and raised an Egyptian, is used by God to deliver the children from Egypt and through the wilderness. God gives Moses the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel worship a golden calf, and Moses intercedes on behalf of Israel, asking God not to forget His promises. God keeps His covenant with Israel even though Israel breaks their covenant with Him. God shows Moses His glory and Moses sees the exhaust of God’s glory. The people see Moses’ face shining because he is in God's presence. God reveals His plan to put His tabernacle and His presence in the middle of their camp. When they set up camp with three tribes on each side of the tabernacle, north, south, east, and west.

1. Tour of Tabernacle

• We will tour the tabernacle and then apply the tabernacle to our daily walk with God. Please know that everything that this tabernacle was made out of comes from the gifts of the people. 25:1-9

1. Outer Courts 27:9-19
   1. There was only one way to enter, which was from the east, and you entered the outer courts. John 14:6
   2. The size of the outer court was 150x75 feet. It had white Egyptian linen, and the only way to enter was from the east. When the tabernacle would stop being mobile and become the temple, the outer courts would be open to only Israelites and those who affiliated with Jehovah through circumcision.
   3. Not everyone could join in worshiping the Lord because worship was reserved for those who had committed themselves to the Lord.

1. Bronze Altar 27:1-8
   1. The size of this altar was about 7.5 feet wide and long by 4.5 feet high.
   2. Once a year, the head of each family would bring a sacrifice, and the priest would bind it onto the altar. The head of the family would confess the sins of their family, and they would take a knife and slit the sacrifice’s throat, and then burn the body.
   3. Each of the corners of the altar had a horn on it, and there were two purposes:
      1. They used the horns to tie down the animal
      2. If you were on the run due to a crime, you could hold onto a horn, and nothing could happen to you. It was like “base” in a game of tag; nothing could happen to you, and you would go from holding onto horns to trial.
2. Bronze basin 30:17-21
   1. The Bronze Basin was a large basin where priests cleansed themselves before entering the holy place.
   2. Priests were generally considered clean except for their hands and feet, which brought about a daily defilement from the world.
3. Table of Bread 25:23-30
   1. We are now inside a tent called the holy place. Only the priest could enter this area. On the rightside as you enter there was a gold-plated table with 12 loaves of bread, one representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
   2. On the Sabbath, the priest would eat the bread and then put new loaves out. The bread was symbolic of God’s provision for them. In Egyptian worship, they would offer food to their god. Egyptians fed their God while our God feeds us.
4. The Golden Lampstand 25:31-40
   1. On the left side as you enter there was a lampstand made of solid gold. Its actual size would have been about 5 feet tall and 75 pounds, about the size of an average 10-year-old.
   2. Its shape should remind you of a bush. The lampstand reminds us of God's presence.
   3. The fuel for the lampstand was to come from crushed olives; this is an important distinction to remember for later 27:20. The olives were not to be ground or milled but crushed.
5. Altar of Incense 30:1-10
   1. Right in front of the holy of holies and the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, we see the altar of incense was lit twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, representing the prayers of God’s people.
   2. This altar also had four horns. The horns of the bronze altar represented mercy. These horns represent God’s power because you access God’s power through prayer.
6. Holy of Holies Ex. 26:31-34
   1. The veil separating the holyplace from the holy of holies
      1. Estimated to have been 30 feet long by 30 feet wide and four inches thick. It's said that two horses couldn't have pulled this veil apart.
      2. Intricately woven into this veil that guarded the entrance to the Holy of Holies were three huge cherubim figures, symbolic defenders of God's power and holiness, as if saying, "You, sinner, may go no further."
   2. No one could come into this area except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. Jewish tradition said that the High Priest went into the holy of holies with bells around their ankles and ropes that reached back into the holy place in case they died.
      1. The Holy of Holies had one piece of furniture: the ark of the covenant.
      2. The ark was a gold-plated box, and inside it were a copy of the Ten Commandments, a pot of manna, and Aaron’s staff, which had miraculously budded.
   3. Priests taught at the time that the ark represented our heart, which should contain three things: the law, the daily manna of the word, and God’s miraculous power.
   4. On top of the ark were two cherubim facing each other and bowing to the ground in worship. In between the cherubim, the literal presence of God rested in fire and cloud.
   5. On the day of atonement, the high priest would enter and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat for the sins of the people.

II. Types of the Tabernacle

1. The Tabernacle was Mt. Sinai on Wheels
   1. Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai, and now God’s presence is with Israel wherever they go.
   2. The point of Exodus is not simply deliverance from Egypt, but God's desire to be with His people. God didn’t merely deliver them and then give them His presence in the promised land, but He gave them his presence during the journey. He does the same for us now.
2. The Tabernacle Points to Jesus
   1. John said that the word dwelt - tabernacled among us, John 1:14. Jesus was God’s ultimate tabernacle as He walked among us.
   2. Everything we see in the tabernacle, Jesus fulfills
      1. Jesus is the door. John 10:7
      2. Jesus is the sacrifice on the bronze altar. Heb. 10:11-12
      3. Jesus is our daily cleansing. I John 1:9
      4. Jesus is our table of bread. John 6:35
      5. Jesus is the golden lampstand of God’s presence. John 8:12 I am the presence of God in the world.
         1. Where did the fuel for the lamp come from? It was from crushed olives. The night before Jesus died, where did Jesus go to pray? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Gethsemane means ‘crushed olives’; the Garden of Gethsemane was a place where they crushed olives.
         2. On the night before Jesus died, he went to the Garden, and as he prayed, he began to sweat great drops of blood, as if God’s wrath for our sin was literally crushing him. Jesus’ crushed body is the fuel that brings the presence of God back to us.
      6. Jesus is our altar of incense. Jesus is our advocate standing before the Father day and night interceding on our behalf.

• If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. Scripture assures me that he is praying for me now.

Robert Murray McCheyne

1. Jesus is the Holy of Holies. When Jesus died, the curtain separating the holy of holies from the holy place was torn in two from top to bottom, giving access to God for all who receive Jesus. If you look at the outline of the furniture, you will see it is in the shape of a cross, was this by accident or was it pointing to the death of our savior?

III. Praying The Tabernacle

• Behold The Throne of God Above Song

1. Hebrews 9:24 The tabernacle is a copy of the throne room of God. We are God’s tabernacle. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 God resides in us, and we could (don’t have to) use the tabernacle design as a way to approach the Lord.
   1. Outer courts Ps. 65:1-4, 100:4
      1. Begin - praise the Lord and tell God everything you love about him and how grateful you are for Him. Remember that the outer courts were made out of a white Egyptian linen, and this allows us to remember his holiness.
      2. We come to the Lord in prayer, satisfied with His goodness. Ps. 65:1-4
   2. The bronze altar Titus 3:5, Rom. 5:8
      1. We embrace the cross of Jesus. God loves you and died for you, knowing everything there is about you.
      2. You are accepted not based on your performance or behavior but through Jesus’ act on the cross and from the resurrection.
   3. The bronze basin
      1. You don’t need to re-enter the family of God every day, but we cleanse ourselves daily from the worldly dirt we encounter and get involved in. 1 John 1:9
      2. Confess where you have sinned to God and ask for renewal of your mind, heart, and body for His service.

• Matt McClure worried about cleaning his new $100,000 Tesla Cybertruck (show pic), spending hours researching cleaning methods online. Suggestions varied: WD-40, glass cleaner, Goo Gone, and Bar Keepers Friend. Chris Leiter also expressed concern about the stainless-steel front bumper accumulating bugs, estimating over 4,600 squashed insects at one point. McClure ultimately spent $500 on products, settling on a multi-step cleaning process: Wash, apply stainless-steel rust remover, clean with Bar Keepers Friend and Windex, dry, wipe with isopropyl alcohol, and finish with ProtectaClear coating to hide fingerprints.

1. Table of bread
   1. Feed on Scripture. Psalms 119:11 Rehearse God’s promises in the morning and allow God’s promises to feed and sustain you.

• The Institute of Bible Research did the largest nationwide study ever conducted of the effect of Bible reading on people’s lives. They found that if you read the Bible 1 day a week, it has almost no effect on your life. Read it one day, listen to one sermon. Read it 2-3 days per week, there’s a slight effect, they found, but negligible. But, get this, if you read your Bible 4x a week or more, you are 59% less likely to view pornography, 228% more likely to share your faith, and at least 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness, depression, or anxiety. Here’s the big idea: When the Word, not the world, becomes the center of your life, it transforms you as nothing else can.
• Mueller: “The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord.”

1. If I walk around empty, I might choose to use you to fill areas of my life that only God intends to fill. I need to begin every day by filling up on the Lord.
2. Golden Lampstand
   1. John 8:12 Worship the Lord through song or meditate on His promises. Rest in the presence of God.
   2. Name the characteristics of God that you need to rest in. God knows them, but every day we need to be reminded of them because we are forgetful.
3. Altar of Incense
   1. Intercede in Prayer. Tell God about the pains and struggles of those around you. 1 Tim. 2:1, Ps. 141:2
4. Holy of Holies
   1. Submit yourself to be filled with the Spirit. every day, all day. Eph. 5:18
      1. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer; there is no exclusive place you go only once a year, by a special person, to gain access to God.
      2. Everyone here can access God today. This access is available through Jesus, who gives us access through what He has done on the cross. Heb. 10:19-22
   2. Look for increased fruitfulness from the Spirit. Gal. 5:22-23

• God desires to be with His people is the main point of Exodus. He freed them from Egypt, families killed lambs on their behalf, mercy was given when they worshipped a golden calf, and they still complained about water and food, but God continued to provide. Today, we see God puts His presence right in the middle of the camp, which is where God wants to place his presence today, right in the middle of your life, and in the middle of our church.

Conclusion: “How did you live with that view every day?” “I forgot it was there.”

That’s Exodus. Israel was delivered through the Red Sea. They saw the plagues. They saw Sinai shake. They saw Moses’ face shine. And still — golden calf. Still — complaints. Still — drifting. Why?

Because you can get used to the presence of God being near you without ever truly welcoming Him to the center.

God didn’t place the tabernacle on the edge of the camp. He didn’t put it outside the gate. He put it in the middle. Three tribes north. Three south. Three east. Three west. Everything revolved around His presence.

And here’s the question that brings decision: Is God in the middle of your life — or just somewhere in the scenery? Some people treat Jesus like a scenic overlook. You admire Him. You respect Him. You stop occasionally. You take pictures on Sundays.

But your decisions don’t revolve around Him. Your schedule doesn’t revolve around Him. Your money doesn’t revolve around Him. Your relationships don’t revolve around Him.

The tabernacle forces a decision.

Because there was only one entrance, you couldn’t wander in any way you wanted. You couldn’t redesign it. You couldn’t move it to the edge. Today, there is still only one way in — through Jesus Christ. Not admiration, tradition, proximity, or growing up around it, just enter.

Some of you have been around the church your entire life. You grew up with the mountain view, but you’ve never walked through the gate. Others of us need to start living in the presence of God.