The Tabernacle – Part 4

The Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, is a key part of the story of the Children of Israel. God designed it to be a visible sign of his presence with his people and as a focus for worship. Every detail was significant and looks beyond the Children of Israel to Jesus Christ, the more perfect tent (Hebrews 9:11). In part 4 we continue our look at Exodus 25 and think about the importance of the furniture in the Holy Place. This part of the Tabernacle house the table for bread, the golden lampstand and the alter of incense. These items had significance for the worship of God by Israel, but also point us to God’s provision of a Saviour in Jesus Christ.

Transcript

We’re in part four thinking of the Tabernacle. We’re moving forward in Exodus 25, and we’re looking at the Holy Place this evening. And we’ll come to, to understand what that is in just a moment. But the handouts are here. Does everybody, first of all, have the handout for this evening?  Everyone has a copy of that.

Then one, two, and three are here as well. Also, if you’ve had a change of heart and think that you do want to now design or try your own Tabernacle model, there’s still copies here. And for those of you who are taking on that challenge, I’m looking forward to seeing those presented to us and seeing how they’re going.

The one thing I will say one or two people have mentioned this and I’m encouraged by it, but it’s also just to say you may think, listen, hearing it the first time is fine by me, I don’t need to hear it again. But all of these are online talks, either video or just as an audio if you want to put on a phone or something and take it with you.

And the handouts as well, that if you do want to go over anything, it’s all there. for you. And even if there’s, if you miss a night, it’s there and the address is there at the bottom. Oh, it’s not. It’s come off. It’s on page four. Sorry. It’s dropped off on the back top of page four there. You’ll see. But if you go to the church website, it’s there midweek at the top and you’ll find it.

So let’s turn to our scriptures this evening and we’re going to turn to Exodus 25. We’re going to read verses 23 to 40.  So have it open there if you have your Bible with you or if you’re following along on a phone Exodus 25. And we’ll begin at verse 23, and it’s a long enough passage. We’re only taking two of the articles of furniture this evening, and there are three.

But we’re only going to look at two and I’ll explain why a  little bit later as we come to that. So Exodus 25, and beginning at verse 23, this is what we read. God says,

You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a moulding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a hand breadth width and a moulding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs.  Close to the frame, the rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table.

You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And the table shall be carried with these. You shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with your sorry, with which to pour drink offerings. You shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the presents on the table before me regularly.

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold.  The lampstand shall be made of hammered work. It’s base, it’s stem, it’s cups, it’s calyxes, and it’s flowers shall be of one piece with it.  And there shall be six branches going out of it’s sides. Three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it.

Three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower on one branch, And three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower on the other branch. For the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself, there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand.

Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it. The whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make seven lamps for it, and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.  Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made with all these utensils out of a talent of pure gold, and see that you make them after the pattern for them which is being shown you on the mountain.

Amen. This is the word of God. We have been looking at the Tabernacle now, and we’ve been taking it in its in its pieces, and we began by looking, generally, what was the Tabernacle all about? We started in the most holy places. Because the tabernacle itself has three parts to it.  And here you have, you don’t have this in your handout, but here it is on the screen for you to see.

The three parts are the court itself, the court of the tabernacle, then the tabernacle, and the tabernacle’s in two parts. We have the holy place, and then we have the most holy place. So that’s where we’ve been looking. That’s where we’ve seen the Ark of the Covenant with its mercy seat on top. The only piece of furniture behind the curtain, or behind the veil.

The significance of that, as we thought the last time, was that was the presence of God among the people.  The mercy seat was designed in such a way that it looked like a throne.  And that was where God would meet with his people. Of course, he wasn’t going to meet with all the people, but the people’s representative.

That would be the most high priest who would come in to that.  The reason why we sung at 975 is not. simply because of what we’re going to look at this evening, but it talks about that throne of God  because that’s where God said he would sit. And so the way that the Ark was fashioned was because of how God would sit as it were a throne, giving whatever he needed to give to his to the people’s representative or his representative to the people.

What he would be sitting on, as it were, the Ark of the Covenant itself had those items in it. Manna, a bit of manna the rod, the blossom on it, and also then the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments, which were God’s best for the community of his people.  Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest could make his way in.

And he would then atone for the sin of the people. With, or well, having done that, go in and know that he could stand before God on their behalf so that they would have the forgiveness of sins. So the most holy place with what  possibly is the most important piece of furniture in the tabernacle. But of course, every piece of furniture is important.

And something I want you to keep in mind, I mentioned this last week. It’s not written down anywhere just yet because we’ll come to that whenever we look at the design. of the tabernacle tent itself.  But whenever we do come to look at it, and there it is as you have it on your handout, that’s where we’re talking about the most holy place.

But whenever we come to think of what this covering was around it,  the links with creation cannot be missed.  And we’re going to see that this evening.  What happened in Genesis 3, there was creation, perfect world,  Adam and Eve, animals and everything that God made, no sin.  Sin came into the world, thereby cursing creation.

Meaning that sin came in, and sin would always spoil creation. And what the tabernacle was to be an image again of what the people had lost. And what they would crave for. Of course, they could never go back to Eden.  But what they could do, was look to a heavenly kingdom.  And the tabernacle was carefully designed.

To point the people to an eternity  of perfection. What they lost in Eden, was still ahead of them. If they worshipped and obeyed the one true God. And again, coming back to why I’ve called this series Worship by God’s Design. God has designed every inch of this.  Because it speaks of something how the people then were to worship Him.

But how even we today are to worship Him. That is the most holy place there where the Ark of the Covenant is,  and the significance of it as part of the Tabernacle is what we read there in Exodus 25. And 22 that says, There I will meet you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, that on the ark of the testimony I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

This was God coming near.  This was God coming to be with his people in the center of the court, in the most important place in the tabernacle. at the center of the community of his people.  And this is what he says he’s going to do.  And that’s fine.  The people are to worship him. So how are they going to do that?

And that’s where we’re going to look at this evening. The next part of the tabernacle, the most, or the holy place, not the most holy place, but the holy place, is the next part there that you have in that picture at the top of your handout. And in it there are three pieces of furniture. And so there are the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table of the bread of the presence.

Now we’re only going to look at the lampstand and the table for the bread this evening, and we’ll look at the altar of incense later. In a few weeks time, whenever we come to that. It’s much later in Exodus, so we’ll come to that in due course. So we’re going to begin by thinking about the table of a table for bread, a table of the presence of the bread or the showbread,  and that’s the first section of the passage that we read this evening from 23 through to 30.

We all love a good bit of bread. If you’re from Ulster, at least that’s what you should do. Either soda bread without yeast or proper loaf pan bread. I’m a baker’s son. I’m gonna tell you bread is good for you. It’s good for bakers. It’s good for bakers children. In more ways than one.  We know bread.

We know the significance of bread throughout the story of Scripture.  And so there, the first piece of furniture that we have in the Holy Place is a table that is made. A table that is not dissimilar from the same size as that of the Ark of the Covenant.  And so it had to be made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and decorated finely so that it would be a place that would be recognized as being special and important.

And it was just that it was a table. Every Sabbath, the high priest would come and would put 12 loaves of bread, and we’ll come to that in a moment. There was also a table, as you read, there was utensils for it. There was going to be cups for the drink offering, but there was also going to be bowls for the incense that was then going to be put on the altar of incense.

So it was a functional piece of furniture,  but yet, what it held had deep significance. for the people of God.  So it was different in size from the Ark of the Covenant, but yet it was of a similar shape.  And like the Ark, the table had rings on its legs so that it could be carried so that it could go with the rest of the furniture.

As the people traveled, but once they settled for wherever they were gonna settle, the tent would go up and everything would be put in its place so that the people of God could worship well.  So the significance of the bread,  I didn’t tell you the reason why there’s 12. We’ll come to that again, but why bread  again?

What was lost?  What was lost in Genesis 3?  Genesis 3 took away from humankind the ability to simply go into the garden and take whatever they wanted.  Part of the curse that has been on humankind is that we have to dig the ground for our food.  And so what this displayed was that actually God is going to provide.

And after all, isn’t that what God had done? God had provided. for these people so far, even with their grumbling, he provided what they needed. And so he has then said that these 12 loaves are a symbol and a sign of my provision for you.  And so I have said it there what they what they represent.

But we’re going to jump to Leviticus just before and we’re going to read what actually Leviticus says about this bread, because it’s not actually here in Exodus that we learn about it.  The significance of it is then in Leviticus 24 and verses 5 to 9 say, You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it.

Two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion, as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day, Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly.

It is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever, and it shall be for Aaron and his sons. And they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual Jew.  So really, what’s going on here is two things at work.  The reason for it,  so why are Aaron and his sons favored?

Obviously they’re the Levites who serve at the temple,  or would serve at the temple, but in the tabernacle as well. But they represent the people before God.  So by consuming the bread, obviously it’s not twelve loaves for everyone, they are representing the people’s understanding of the significance of this, that it is God’s gift, that it is God’s provision.

It has always been God’s way that he would provide for his people. But notice what Leviticus says, that it is a covenant.  It is from the people sorry, it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. The people recognize that God provides.  That they’re not the masters of their own industry.  That is God provided in the garden, so he would provide for them in the wilderness.

And that was represented by these 12 loaves.  So Aaron the high priest arranged the 12 loaves in two piles every Sabbath day, and it reminded the Israelites of God’s provision in the wilderness as he brought them through it, but sustaining their crops going into the future of Israel as they farmed the land.

As they did. did what they did year in year out. It was to remind them of just how good God was in their, in his continual provision for them.  Of course, we can’t get past the 12 tribes of Israel, and there’s certainly no doubt that there’s some connection, if not a significant connection, to that. But scripture doesn’t say, so we can’t assume.

We can only speculate. But there at  the last line of that paragraph, just under where it put Leviticus 24, is the significance That it is a reminder, a visible reminder,  that everything in Israel belongs to the Lord.  They were His,  and so He would provide for them. He would give to them. So as much as the bread was offered  to the priests for them to take, it was to recognize that everything, the bread and the people, a visible reminder that everything of Israel belongs to God.

belonged to the Lord.  So what’s the significance then for us today? A table with bread on it, you can’t miss that picture,  points us to the Lord’s Supper.  And I’m not suggesting that what the table for bread and the bread on it was there was as if it was communion, it wasn’t, it had a very different purpose, but the one thing remained,  the covenant.

So as much as this was a covenant promise to the people about God’s continued faithfulness to them, so for us, as we come to the Lord’s table,  whatever way that table is fashioned with bread on it, we come in the new covenant, recognizing for what Christ has done. And let’s remind ourselves of the words that we say, or that we know from communion,  in Luke 22, verses 19 to 20, And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me and likewise the cup After you had eaten, saying this cup is poured out for you, is the new covenant in my blood.  God’s promises at work. Promises to the children of Israel, but promises fulfilled in Jesus Christ for us today. So that as the people of old knew of their representatives before God, taking of the bread as a sign of their promise to God and recognizing him as the God who provides all, So in our taking of the bread,  we recognize the covenant, the new covenant through the blood of Christ, the body on the cross, the blood that was shed for us today to know the continuation of God’s promises through salvation, through Jesus Christ.

God designed specifically what the tabernacle should be  because everything in the tabernacle is a foreshadow of what was to come. Not what’s to come in the kingship of Saul or David, but what was to come in Christ. That’s what the tabernacle looks like. Of course it guided and it shaped religious worship and practice in Israel for generations.

and centuries,  but it points us to Christ to remind us that even right at the heart when worship was being organized for the community, this is the first time they came together as a whole people to worship God. At the heart of it was God’s provision  and so we recognize the table of the Lord as God’s continued provision for us that salvation can only come  through the sacrifice of  Jesus Christ.

So that’s a table for bread.  We go on to The lampstand of pure gold.  This is so different from everything else in the the Tabernacle. I  wondered, did you pick it up as I was reading it?  It was to be fashioned in one piece.  It couldn’t be taken apart to be, put away, to be carried.  There was nothing could be detached from it.

It was one piece. Now, yes, probably everything was made separately and then, but all put together so that it couldn’t be taken apart again.  And, again,  this is where we see, not,  as we saw with the table, physical creation there, the bread on the table. We actually see creation  weaved into the gold of the lampstand.

So in the holy place, there would be a lampstand.  Practically speaking, the priest needed to see it’s a tent. And,  There’s no skylights.  And whenever we get to see the thickness of what this tent was, it was a dark place. And so the lampstand was practical. And that’s what the passage said. It said that it would sit there and it would shine light so that the priests could see what they were doing and how they were doing it.

But it also was to be a reminder once again of creation being restored.  That it would be restored. The almond blossom brought on to this lamp stand and the detail that was given,  phenomenal. You have the picture of it there on your handout. I think that does purr justice to what it probably looked like.

Again, the people didn’t get to see it. The people only got to hear about it.  But I can imagine that as it would have provided light, glinting off the gold, it was a sight to be seen and to behold. The lampstand is there, and from the description of the lampstand in verses 32 to 36, we see that it resembles and styles with apple blossom.

It talks about branches. You, again, you can’t get away from this sense that it’s a tree,  with a central trunk and branches coming off. That’s the image that you get from this piece of furniture.  Once again, bringing us back to God restoring his people as he will restore creation in the new heaven and the new earth.

And so as the priests did their work in the tabernacle under the illumination of the lampstand, they and all Israel then by extension, because they were the representatives before God, would be reminded that it was God who was the true light. The God who would guide them  in the wilderness by night  and day  was still the God who would guide them in worship of him.

He has always been about drawing his people to himself. And he has always used light. As that way of, that symbol of people drawing near to him.  And of course, John 1 verses 4 to 5, even before Christ comes on the scene, in John’s great prologue where he tries to bring all of the language of the Old Testament into the New Testament so that whenever Christ comes, people will know exactly what everything in the Old Testament means.

We have in the prologue that we re read just a few months ago, in him was life. And the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  Whenever you read what we read here in Exodus, compared now to John chapter 1,  we get a new perspective. Imagine if you were a priest working in the tabernacle and you read that.

The light shines in the darkness. The light shone in the holy place, that dark place, to provide illumination so they could be drawn nearer to God and by extension the people being drawn nearer to God. But of course we understand that knowing that Christ is the light of the world as we’ve come to see in one of our passages in just a moment.

He is the life. Once again light being used as a way of drawing us to God.  And so right here, in the heart of the tabernacle, you have this light that shines brightly.  Not only to give practical light for those who would serve, but to be a symbol that God continues to draw people to himself.  Now,  the passage concludes in verse 40, and this is a very significant passage.

I don’t have it on the screen and I don’t have it on your handout there, but I’ll read it for you again. Because it says, God’s command, whenever it comes to the golden lampstand, and see that you make them, talking about everything so far, after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

God made it very clear. And he will make it clear again. He will repeat this to Moses and say, you make sure you follow this to the very letter that I have given.  As I was reading the Golden Lampstand, it was repetitive.  Why didn’t it just say, just make every stem the same? God made it very clear that there was to be no difference.

That what you do on one side, it would be on the other side.  He was explicit in what had to happen.  And as we know Christ as the light of the world and as our Savior, we must follow His commands in all of life.  Even under the new covenant. Yes, we’re not ruled by law. We’re not saved by law  But we can’t ignore what was the purpose of the law.

The purpose of the law that God gave was to order  Society. It was to order his people and how they would live together

Matthew Henry, if you’re not familiar with who he is, he’s a commentator from 1800s. And he says this. All his ordinances must be administered according to his institutions or his instructions. Christ’s instruction to his disciples in Matthew 28 verse 20 is similar to this. Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

Although the tabernacle will teach us much about what it means to worship God, we’ve seen that with the table of the showbread, we’ve seen it with the lampstand.  But we’re going to see this statement from God coming up time and again. What I have told you, you follow to the letter of the law. And that’s what Matthew Henry’s teasing out.

He’s saying Christ gave the exact same command in the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.  Christ  is the second person of the Trinity.  He was before time.  All things in creation were created through him, by him.  That means that Christ is not just talking about what he taught physically here on earth,  but he’s talking about the full counsel of God that the disciples then would have known in  oral tradition of teaching from the Old Testament.

But what we know as the full canon of scripture that we have from Genesis through to Revelation, this is what has been pointed here. That we obey everything that it says. We don’t leave anything.  So what is the application for today? How do we understand this? And  yes, there are three  pieces of furniture, but we’ll come to the altar of incense later  in a few weeks time.

But  the two pieces of furniture in the holy place point us to Jesus.  That’s what they do.  Communion  and light.  The light of the world.  They point us to Him and how we are to live for Him, but also how we’re to worship Him.  Now,  worship isn’t what we do on a Sunday.  That’s only part of worship.  Paul tells us that everything we do is worship to God.

Now, that changes how we view each day. Changes how we get up in the morning. Changes how we view our places of work. Changes how we view our families. Changes how we view our social community around us.  What we do we call public worship because it’s that moment where publicly, corporately, we come together to do things together in terms of worship of God.

But that doesn’t mean that every other minute of every other day isn’t worship.  God calls us to worship of him.  And so in this these two pieces of furniture, they’re pointing us to Christ and what it means to worship him as a church, the institution that  God has given us, the Bride of Christ, by which we are to organize ourselves as his people.

But also how we are to live for him whenever we’re not together as his people.  And so what the table does ultimately, that table of pure gold with the bread on top and the other things that will be there that we’ll come to talk about, that points us to the sacrifice of Jesus. Why there is still need for a table and why there’s still need for a bread on that table  because of Christ’s sacrifice.

And so here you have right at the start of the organization of worship of God’s people.  You have pointing to Christ.  You’ve, you’re pointing to the sacrifice, where that will come,  because that’s what Peter says in 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 18.  For Christ also suffered once for sins. The righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

See, the priests every year had to sacrifice, had to sprinkle the blood,  and then go into the Holy of Holies. To go into the most holy place, once a year, for the atonement of the sin of the people of God.  And would always have to be a fresh sacrifice.  But Christ died once,  and once only for the for sins.

The righteous one, for we the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.  So that we can put to death what is in the flesh and be made alive in the spirit.  I think we’d all love a table of pure gold. We might all love the value of a table of pure gold and maybe sell it on eBay and see what we can get for it.

But the most precious metal in the world  sat in that tabernacle where God dwelt,  where 12 loaves of bread that was symbol to the people of his provision for them  has now been transformed into gold. Into a precious wooden table that we gather around six times a year so that we can partake  Together  in this covenant meal that has been given to us and some people in our last communicants classes Someone said why do we only do it six times a year?

Why don’t we do it every week?

I don’t know the answer to that. There’s nothing that tells us that But what we have learned  is that when we do something so often we, we lose its value,  we lose its familiarity, or it becomes so familiar we lose its wonder. I have no problem with doing it six times a year,  not at all,  because what it does each time, I hope each time that we come, it reminds us afresh that it isn’t so familiar that we can gather around and enjoy it as if we’re enjoying it for the first time.

And that’s going to be one of our questions that we’ll come to.  Because as we worship today, we must always recognize what Christ has done for us, so that we can be assured of the forgiveness of sins. And if you do come to the evening service, you’ll notice that for the past two years we’ve been doing that.

I’ve always, in every opening prayer, I’ve always sought the forgiveness of sins. Not because I can forgive, but only God can. But we need to be assured that we are forgiven. And I can’t give that assurance But God can through his word.  And so as we worship today, understanding of the sacrificial offering of Christ on the cross that shapes how we worship.

Because it gives us gratitude in our hearts.  That will bring us to a table. with bread and wine on it, that we will celebrate and remember what Christ has done.

Then the lampstand of pure gold, it points us to Christ’s ministry at work in our lives. Because as Jesus himself says in John chapter 8 and verse 12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,  but will have the light.  It’s a wonderful picture. I have to say, I preached that sermon a couple of times from that passage.

And I still think it’s a wonderful image because Jesus is saying these words just as the Passover is finished.  And as the Passover finished in Jerusalem, the two cauldrons that sat at the top of the steps of the temple that had been lit for the period, a week of Passover, There was oil in them, and it just burned, and it was these huge flames.

Nothing like you can imagine in terms of what you might see in a gas thing now.  But these two beacons illuminated Jerusalem. They guided the pilgrims to come to worship at Passover. As soon as Passover’s over finished, they’re extinguished.  And after they’re extinguished, their smoke comes up for quite a while because the oil is hot after being there for a week.

And Jesus is standing, John tells us, in between these two beacons  with the extinguished light, almost to say where is your light now?  It’s good for seven days, but I am the light of the world. Forever.  I am the one who illuminates the way. I am the one who guides. And because I am light, and light is pure I am the truth.

And so that’s what that’s what the the Canva or the light stand or the Lampstand shows us.  It shows us the purity of Jesus at work in us, that he continues to guide us. That the light, the truth that we have in his word, just as we were looking at the, in verse 40, see that you do things after the pattern that God has stated and God has designed.

This is what the lampstand points us to,  following the way of Jesus.  That we may know his light  in all its truth and all its purity, and that we will follow it rather than the way of the world.  It’s interesting how furniture can be so significant. to us, but then we shouldn’t be surprised about that.  I have waiting for me in my mother’s house, and of course you’ll appreciate it’s waiting till a certain time in the future, when there’ll be a grandfather clock coming to the manse.

That grandfather clock has been in our family for four generations.  Don’t think must be worth a pretty penny. It’s not. We’ve had it valued. It’s not worth that much at all,  but it’s worth significance in its family meaning. Can’t put a price on that.  Furniture does mean something to us.  Cheers. The number of homes that I’ve gone into, particularly for wedding anniversaries.

Oh yeah, that sofa you’re sitting on, we got at our wedding.  Or something else, dishes, or things in our homes. They are significant, so why should we be surprised that in God’s home, in the tabernacle and everything that we have now in our meeting house that helps us to understand the fullness of all of these items,  they are special.

They point us ultimately to Christ, because that’s what God’s design for worship is. That we will worship Him through His only, His one and only Son.  That we will celebrate and remember at communion.  And that we will know the light of the world guiding us  and guiding us home.  And so as you think in these things, there’s a couple of questions.

They’re shorter. These are the shortest ones we’ve had in our handouts so far. But here’s the first one for you. What significance does the Lord’s Supper have for you?

Have you ever walked into church on a Communion Sunday and said, Oh, I forgot it was Communion this Sunday. And you walk in and you forgot to complete your token and things like that. And you have to rush out and get it like that.  I wonder what significance Communion has.  Because it should have a huge significance to you.

For multiple reasons that I don’t have time to go into this evening.  But it’s simply the celebration  and the remembrance. It’s not a wake.  That’s not what coming to the Lord’s table is.  When we read of what the early church did and how it celebrated the Lord’s Supper, it wasn’t awake. They gathered round feasting because of the joy of the Saviour and His sacrifice.

Awake means that someone has died  and Christ has died, but he didn’t stay dead. He rose again. And so that’s why it is a table of celebration as well as remembrance. So what significance does it have for you? We’re going to, we’re going to come to it on Easter Sunday evening. We’re going to celebrate communion on Easter Sunday evening as we do.

What a wonderful day to do. How would you approach that? How would you begin to approach it now, as a significant moment,  not just on that day,  not just in April,  but in the year that we worship together?  Second question there, how do you live daily in the light of the Savior? What light does Christ project or illuminate onto your life that helps you live each day?

How do you know him guiding the way with that great illumination? Where the cauldrons have been extinguished, and he declares he is the light of the world. And whoever follows him is in the light of the truth and the light of life. Again, what John told us Christ had come to do. If we believe that every day is our opportunity to worship God,  whether you sing around the kitchen, or you show active kindness for the sake of Christ to your next door neighbor, or whatever it may be,  how do you know Christ leading you by his light?

I suppose what it boils down to is, are you looking for it? Are you even conscious that on your Monday to Saturday we should be looking for the light of Christ to guide us?  And then thirdly is that general question, how can greater understanding of the holy place draw you closer to God as you live for him?

What does it mean to understand this, his word, and how it applies to you  in your life in this moment? That’s where we’ll finish for tonight. Next week, we’re going to look at the whole outer covering of the tabernacle and what that meant, and its significance of the embroidery. But as we finish for tonight, let me pray for us, and then we’ll all come to a time of prayer.

Let’s pray.  Our Father God, we do thank you that as we look at these things, they have great significance for us. Because they tell us something of you, but they also tell us of your great plan of salvation.  Even so many years ago, they pointed to Christ.  They pointed your people to you and worshiped off you as their savior.

And thank you that in the new covenant, through Christ’s blood, we know it fulfilled in Him. And so as we think of what we’ve learned, as we think of these questions, these significant questions for us,  Father, help us to live well for you in the light of what we’ve learned,  that we will continue to know you as our great and our loving God.

So be with us, we pray, as we continue to seek and serve you in Jesus name.  Amen.