The Tabernacle – Part 5

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 5 we pick up in Exodus 26 and explore the frame of the Tabernacle and the curtains that would cover the frame and the veil that would divide the Most Holy Place, where the ark of the Lord sat, with the Holy Place and the furniture used by the priests. The design takes the people back to the garden of Eden where God dwelt with Adam and Eve. The Tabernacle’s design was to remind the people of what it meant to worship God and how his design of the Tabernacle taught them his design for worship.

Transcript

So we’re in part five, and you’ll see that part five of the tabernacle, we’re calling the blueprint of the tabernacle.  Furnishings which for many houses, whenever you’re building a house, you don’t think of what you want to go in at first. You think of the structure, you think of the plan, you think of the design.

But we got the furniture first because the furniture told us something about how we worship God. Now we’re going to look at the tent itself. What was it? What was this piece of fabric that God had wrapped around these poles and what was the significance of it? Because it does have a significance.  So let’s turn to Exodus 26.

We’re going to read two sections of this. We’re not going to read the whole chapter, but hopefully we’re going to read enough that’s going to let us know what it’s all about. So I’m going to read verses 1 to 10, and then we’re going to jump over to verse 31 to the end of the chapter. So Exodus 26, 1 to 10, and then over to verse 31.

So this is what God says to Moses. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine twilled linen, and blue and purple, and scarlet yarns. You shall make them with cherub bim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain shall be 28 qubits and the breadth of each. Curtain, four cupids.

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 hole.

You shall also make curtains of goat’s hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains shall you make. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cupids and the breadth of each curtain four cupids. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. You shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent.

You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set. And fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. Then we’ll move over to verse thirty one.  And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine, 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, and 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.  You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine 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 pieces of bronze.  Amen. This is the word of God.  So Moses has been told everything. And as we were reading that again, we’re, there’s a lot of repetition. And again, we have to remind ourselves why this was given. This was given in two parts or the account is in two parts.

We have the first account here of God telling Moses what to do and how to do it. Then Exodus goes on in the thirties, the chapters to tell us how the people did it and it, and you can really read it like for because what did we learn last week? What did God say? You must do everything.

by how I’ve designed it. You must follow it word for word, because ultimately, as we’ll see more so tonight, this is worship by God’s design. Again, that teaches us that even worship today is still by God’s design. We don’t make up how we worship God. God tells us how we worship.  And We saw and we got to know a little bit of what the tabernacle was going to be like.

We know that there’s that outer court. We know that it’s there for the outer workings that needed to happen with the sacrifices. But last week we learned that there were two parts inside. The most holy place, that’s confirmed in this passage this evening, where the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat would be.

And then you would have the holy place, where all of the furniture would with those twelve loaves that the priests or the Levites would serve as representatives of the people before the Lord in worship.  Of course, it was only once a year that the high priest could go in to the most holy place on the Day of Atonement.

Now, as we read it, it was probably quite a, I don’t know if you picked up on this or not, but the people are told set it all up,  but yet the instructions are, as we know about the tabernacle, that no one could go in to the holy, most holy place. But of course, God’s presence isn’t here yet. And that’s actually where we’ll finish up tonight.

Not finishing up the series, but we’ll remind ourselves about the purpose of why everything was as it was. And so what chapter 26 gives us here is three sections dealing with the work that was going to be done.  The tabernacle curtains, the tabernacle frame, and the tabernacle veil. So the curtains, the frame, and the veil.

The curtains on the outside, the frame, what they’re going to hang them on, and then the veil itself. That would separate  the most holy place from the holy place, as well as  the front door, as it were, of the tabernacle.  Each given its own  importance, but notice again the colors that are used, and that’s why this color  image appears regularly.

I try and shift it about a wee bit, so that if you’re looking at a handout, it doesn’t look like it’s the same handout again. But, look at the colors. They’re vibrant.  Inside in particular, but remember inside will be dark because whenever you hear tonight some of the thicknesses of these curtains, it’s pitch dark.

One of the things that, we’re not going to look at this again tonight, but you can look back later on, but  the curtain, the veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place, this was not something like a stage where, the high priest could just pop in round. He physically had to move.

The wooden beams holding it to get in. This was made as not an easy place to access. And don’t forget what was embroidered.  The cherubim. Why?  I’ve mentioned it and I’ve mentioned it but tonight we see it.  This is Eden restored.  This is the Garden of Eden.  Coming back to be with the people.  Now, I know it’s not the physical garden.

I know that. But what’s the significance of Eden? Eden is the place where God dwelt.  What’s the purpose of the tabernacle? In the centre of the camp? With everyone’s tents around it? that God again would dwell with his people.  So there’s no mistake here of what’s going on. There’s no mistake in the colors.

There’s no mistake in the embroidery. And there’s even some other things that we’ll think about this evening from history that the historians would say the tabernacle was like, that aren’t explicit in scripture, but were handed down by the people. So let’s deal with the first thing that the passage looks at, and that’s the tabernacle curtains.

So what we have here in chapter 26 makes clear that the tabernacle was a tent. So if you’ve ever wondered, what is the most holy way to have a holiday, It’s under canvas. I’ve always said that. Bear Grylls once said, The greatest gift you can give your children is a camping holiday. And that’s what we do every summer because it’s biblical.

The tabernacle, we know it’s a tent.  But this is the first time we’re told it’s a tent.  This is the first time we’re told about a frame.  Not of steel poles or fiberglass poles, but of wooden frames.  Wooden frames that could be removed and taken as the people wandered for those 40 years. But still it was going to be a tent.

That’s significant because of when we come  to John 1.  The word became flesh and dwelt among us.  If you go back to what the original language is, the word became flesh and tabernacled.  among us because tabernacle, whenever we read it here in scripture, simply means to dwell.  If you want to take a literal Greek understanding of what John is saying in John chapter one, by dwelling among us, tabernacling among us, He pitched his.

There’s no mistake in the language. There’s no mistake in the imagery, because remember, this is God’s great story of the world,  of human history,  and eternity history, salvation history. This golden thread that is weaved throughout scripture and throughout history is exactly this. God making it very clear what his way of salvation is.

So this dwelling place, Was the dwelling place among the other dwelling places because this is a tent  among a campsite  Because everyone else had a tent around it, but this was the one where God would dwell with his people.  And the directions or the instructions for the tabernacle structure tell us that the Lord’s tent was much larger, and going to be much larger, than any of the others.

And the curtains are made using cloth, using animal hair, which would give a bit of waterproofing, and also animal skins.  Now these curtains would be layered.  They’d be heavy. One, because of the elements, but also secondly, because it didn’t give anyone the opportunity to peek in.  These were gonna be heavy.

Not just to carry, but even if you were trying to pull the curtain back, you wouldn’t be able to.  Because although God was dwelling in the midst of his people, this was not a public house of worship. The people couldn’t fit in. There’s no way the whole community of Israel could fit in.  And so that’s why it was the high priest and the Levites who would represent the people before God.

Oh, the people would continue in their acts of worship, they would do that tribe by tribe, clan by clan.  But when it came to representing the people before God, that would be done by the priests  and the Levites. And it was their duty to serve within the tabernacle, either in the court of the tabernacle, where the sacrifices and the smoke would go up and the fragrance of the animal sacrifices.

And Or to go into the holy place every Sabbath with the bread and then of course once a year the high priest going in To the holy of holies or the most holy place.  So this place was designed Almost with big keep out signs, but yet it was visible and was there for the people it’s almost like an oxymoron It doesn’t fit because surely you would think if God wanted to dwell with his people Then it would be free access.

But of course, we’re looking at it through Christ you  How was salvation? It was through blood.  It was atonement of sin. It was worship, faithful worship of God.  The people were sinners.  They didn’t have a mediator. They had to bring their own animal sacrifice. They had to depend on a priest to be their mediator.

Of course now we have the mediator once and for all time, Jesus Christ, as we finished with last week. reminding us that of course we live in a different time, but nonetheless what’s happening here is significant.  And the colors that are used are royal colors, blue, scarlet, purples, beautiful to signify this verse one tells us that this royalty, that this was no just simple house or tent, this was a royal place.

And again, we’ll hear the language of throne coming up again. And these colours give the design of a kingly palace, because this is where the king of kings and the lord of lords, the king of all creation, would dwell.  And I’ve put in there at the bottom of the second paragraph, On the, or the first paragraph on the second page, that blue, the colors are significant, blue reminded them of the sky, creation, reminding them of God’s heavenly home.

And in Psalm 2, verse 4, we read this about the Lord on his throne, that he who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. This, of course, is Psalm 2, telling us about what is the folly of sinful man, that the Lord laughs at their folly,  at thinking they can be better than him, but yet, where is he?

He’s sitting in the heavens, sitting on what? He’s sitting on a throne.  And so the tabernacle echoes what the people believed and what they would later sing about the Lord. The image here is not lost on us.  And the tabernacle curtains were worked with images of the cherubim.  And again, pointing the sanctuary to a place where God would dwell,  where his throne room would be on earth.

Because where had God dwelt? Where did he walk with Adam and Eve? In the garden. If the people wanted access to God again, where would they have to go? The garden. But they couldn’t get into the garden. Why?  The cherubim, with the flaming sword, at the east of the garden. They couldn’t get in. And  what’s the picture on the door?

Into the Holy of Holies, or in the curtain, into the holy, most holy place?  Cherubim,  the big no entry sign, saying you’re not worthy enough to go into the presence of the Lord because you’re sinful. When did Adam and Eve walk with God? They walked in their perfection, in their sinless state. But of course Genesis 3 happened, they were kicked out, and the cherubim were put in place so that they would never have access, direct access to God like that again.

And so we read in Ezekiel 10 and verses 3 to 5. Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house. When the man went in and a cloud filled the inner court and the glory of the Lord went up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house and the house was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord and the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

We should not think of cherubim as angels and clouds playing harps.  These are God’s warriors.  Who else do you ever hear of a flaming sword?  These are the elite  of God’s mighty army,  and yet here they are in the tabernacle. And this vision that Ezekiel has tells us exactly of their power. When they move, it sounds like the voice of God Almighty.

That’s how powerful And  it should make us stop and think  why it was so important for them to be embroidered. If this is Eden restored, why are they there? Because ultimately Eden can never be restored to sinful man  because of exactly that sin.  That’s why we wait for the new heavens and the new earth.

That’s why when we come to the book of Revelation, John’s vision, which isn’t a puzzle book for us,  It’s a picture book. It’s giving us pictures to look at of what eternity is going to be like. It’s not a puzzle book like Sudoku, where you have to get everything matching and lined up so that you can know exactly when, where and how.

No, it’s a picture book  telling us of what the new heavens, this new Eden is going to be like, where we will be perfect, where there will be no cherubim with flaming swords stopping us. getting in, but rather there will be a welcome because of Jesus Christ.  And so until Christ would come as the mediator giving us free access to God, because of his sacrifice on the cross, the cherubim will remain within Israel’s history.

Because once we move to whenever the temple is built, the curtain that divides the Holy of Holies from the rest of the sanctuary, what has it on it? It has the cherubim again. And what is the great moment on Good Friday? And this is why we call Good Friday good, because that curtain with the no entry sign, with the cherubim and flaming sword embroidered on it, was ripped apart.

Not from the bottom so that man could do it, but this 30 foot curtain was ripped from the top. No man could reach it.  And so God said the cherubim are no longer needed.  Because you have free access to me because of Christ.  The images that we’re seeing in the tabernacle assure us of God’s wanting to dwell with us.

Wanting to dwell with us in Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, with his, and through his son Jesus.  And to eternity, where we will be perfect with him.  And again, I put an image there, you’ve seen this before, this is the Ark of the Covenant.  This is the, this is, because of, this is where God will dwell.

Remember how it was described  in part three of this? It was described as his throne. This is where he would sit.  And who’s on either side?  We have the cherry of him with the wings put forward, faces down, recognizing that it is God who is above them in this. This is why it’s holy. This is God’s throne room.

And this is why the curtains need to be the color that they are, but also the thickness.  And the purpose for them, so that no one could sneak in to see God.  And finishing this first part, Exodus, there, the verses 7 to 14, tell us that three layers of curtains were draped over the tabernacle itself. Down at the manse, because our girls were so used to bright African sunshine, we had to get extra heavy curtains.

Curtains, they’re not just lined, they physically have a plastic thing on the back to keep the light out. I had to fit all of those by hand. Let me tell you, my arms were a little bit sore.  Imagine having to do it three times in the lengths that are given here. We’ll come to look at the lengths in the next section.

This was heavy stuff.  This was keeping people out.  But yet the wonder is, God would still dwell with his people and accept them and receive them because of how he had ordered worship of him.  So that is the start of where we’re looking at, with those beautiful colors in the curtains of the tabernacle. But we’re now going to look at the tabernacle further.

frame.  Of course, curtains don’t just suspend, they have to hang on something, and so a frame is designed for the curtains to be hung on. And again, this is what then gives us the shape and the dimensions of the tabernacle. And verses 15 to 30 give us directions for the tabernacle itself. And from these dimensions given in these verses, We have to remember that one cupid is equal to about 18 inches.

So if you’re working in old money, you will understand what this is. If you’re working in new money, 18 inches is about 38

centimeters. No, William, tell me  45, 450 milliliters millimeters, right? 45. We’re going to work in inches tonight. So sorry, old money. It is. So where the dimensions that are given, it’s a rectangular building.  But the uniqueness of this rectangular building is that there’s one part going to be a perfect cube.

And that of course is the Most Holy Place. We don’t know the dimensions of the sections itself for the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, but we’ll come to that. It was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet tall. It had only a frame on the north side. the south and the west sides. So that tells us again, reminiscent of Eden, that the tabernacle faced east.

And so the priest entered the tabernacle from that side and they moved westward into the structure. And again, this is what we read in Genesis 3 and 24 as to why the significance of facing east. Because he drove the man, or he drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard  the way to the Tree of Life.

If the people wanted to get back in to the garden to get to the Tree of Life, what did they have to do? They had to go from the east  That’s how they would have found God again. And this is what God’s doing. He’s breaking down that so that the people’s representatives come from the east and go west through the tabernacle, reminding them that the way to God  is in that direction.

That as they went out, so they have the ability to go in. Part four and now confirm verse 33, we talked about these two places, the holy place and the most holy place. And we don’t find the dimensions of these sections in the Book of Exodus. We actually have to go to 1 Kings chapter 6. Because everything of the tabernacle is multiplied when it comes to the temple.

And so basing it on the dimensions of what Solomon’s temple is we can work out then what the dimensions of the inside of the tabernacle heart was divided up to.  And so the Most Holy Place was 15 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high.  Perfect. It’s a perfect cube. And what this points us to is the Lord’s own perfection.

And of course it would, because if this is where he is going to dwell, not only does the crafting of the Ark of the Covenant with the things it contained to be the finest of all the gold, and again that’s significant, gold in the Most Holy Place, we’ll see what happens the further you get away.  But it’s perfect, it’s a perfect cube,  so that God would come in his perfection to this perfect place,  so that his glory would be best seen there.

And the holy place measured then 30 feet long, where you had the table and the lampstand and the altar of incense, and it was further removed from the perfection of God’s presence. And this is,  that’s why it’s shaped in as more rectangular, because it’s not that perfect place. The perfect place had to be the most holy place, a place that was fit as God’s palace on earth.

Let’s move on to the third and final section for this evening, and it is the Tabernacle Veil. And so these final verses that we read describe aspects of the inside of the tabernacle, as well as the screen or the door that went on the east side of the sanctuary. And first of all, in verses 31 to 33,  we find instructions for the inner veil that separated the holy places.

from the most holy place. And like the curtains and the walls of the tabernacle, verse 31 tells us there that it was made from blue, purple, and scarlet yarns with cherubim skillfully worked into it.  Now, we’re not given the exact dimensions of these curtains,  but they’re likely to about being 15 feet high and 15 feet wide, simply because of the other dimensions of the tabernacle.

And it took 10 curtains coupled together to form the walls of the tabernacle. But the inner veil was to be a single,  and it was hung, then as we read on in verse 32, on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold.  Nothing but the best for what would be this frame  of the house of God.  The thing is, the further you got away from the most holy place,  it was very visual  that you were moving away from the perfection of the Lord.

Because we read of silver,  and as you move away you read of bronze being used. Again, all imagery reminding you that as you moved closer to the most holy place.  You were moving closer to the perfect God, the King of all.  So  these, the veil that stretched across the most holy place it was the width of the tabernacle to divide it into two rooms.

And as I said in that first picture, if you want to go back to number one again, to get in, this was a tight fit. So to get in, the high priest would have had to shift things. Because it wasn’t just a simple pull back the curtain and in you go. It was made in such a way that it was difficult for him to enter.

So that he was absolutely sure that he was prepared and ready to enter into the presence of the Lord.  And of course the only time that he did that was on the Day of Atonement once a year. Where he would make atonement, or the atonement was made  for the sins of the people. And it’s Leviticus 16 that tells us that.

Now, just to finish off with the veil, we’re told in this section that on the east side of the tabernacle, at its entrance was made a screen, once again, of blue, purple and scarlet yarns, but this time it had no images on it, verse 36 tells us.  And this was effectively  the tabernacle’s door, and it was hung from gold coloured pillars of acacia wood, but this time it’s not gold bases.

They are bronze, reminding us that as you enter, you get closer to the perfection of God simply by what you observe,  but the significance.  of no cherubim on the door of the tabernacle showed that actually  the people through their medias were welcome for the ordinances, for the worship that they were to do on their behalf, day in, day out, on the Sabbath.

So God, although stopping and making it very visible that stopping with the cherubim Still was welcoming that the veil at the front door was open so that people by their mediators could enter in.  As I’ve been reading this again, I suppose this whole, I really have been taken by this whole idea of Eden being restored.

Not fully restored, but the sense that if the people wanted to meet with God again, they had to go back to Eden, but that wasn’t possible. And so here you have the tabernacle. And what Josephus, who is a pretty reliable Jewish historian, has said through oral tradition that came down from the people, that whenever we read of the other embroidery that doesn’t tell us what it is, we’re told that’s flowers and blossoms.

And so as you walked up to the tabernacle, as you saw the curtain, you would see embroidered in it these images of creation. You would see the colors of creation, reminding the people of the relationship that was possible with God, if they were faithful to him, just as Adam and Eve had been faithful  until their expulsion because of sin.

And as we round things off this evening, what is our application for all of this?  And I want to take us to the very end of Exodus.  To that second account of all of this detail, where we’re simply told that the people did the work. And this is what we read. We read this on the first night.  Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled it.

It must have been an amazing sight.  When you woke up this morning when we woke up this morning, there was cloud all around us. I don’t know, it depends how early or how late you woke up.  I love, I always tell Pamela, she thinks I’m old, I love fog.  Everyone hates fog, I love it.  But it’s because whenever I was a student in London,  you’d walk along the banks of the Thames, and very quickly,  A fog would come in off the Thames,  and you’d just be enveloped,  and the streetlights  would be that, not spot of orange, but would now become a haze of orange around you, and there’s just something about it, about being enveloped.

But even though I was on the streets of London, I felt safe,  because I was enveloped by this fog. I also think fog’s romantic, but that’s another story for another time.  But that sense  of being surrounded. enveloped.  That’s what’s happening here.  God by a cloud is coming down and enveloping  his place.  Now it’s not the whole tent.

He’s coming into his perfect cube where his throne is set.  And look who can’t get in.  The person who was up the mountain in the cloud with God no longer can get in  because he is not now the person. He may be Israel’s great prophet.  But the duty is now fallen to his brother and the house of Levi,  so that Aaron is the high priest.

Can mediate on behalf of the people because that is his calling. Moses will still have a function, of course he will, in leading the people and God will still speak to Moses as they wander through and God will still give to Moses the law. But when it comes to the worship of God on behalf of the people, it is no longer Moses.

And this is a significant moment in history because this is the first time since Eden that God is now dwelling in the midst of his people. And at the end of Exodus, something was accomplished  and this is what we’re reading. The tabernacle was the place where God would be dwelling,  but it’s not a place where anyone and everyone can go.

’cause even Moses and I can’t enter it, it was indeed to be a tent of meeting,  but it’s not yet the tent of meeting  because it’ll be the one who tabernacle among us who would be our tent of meeting before the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is Jesus Christ.  So we’re nearly there,  but not yet.  There is still a mediator with one sacrifice after another for the forgiveness and atonement of sins.

But when Christ comes he is the one. Israel are not yet God’s people fully.  Because if the greatest prophet of Israel’s history could not enter the presence of God, then how could Israel become a kingdom of priests to mediate the Lord’s presence to the surrounding nations? Because this is what their charge was.

And you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, says God in Exodus 19, verse 6. These are the words that you will speak to the people of Israel, he says to Moses. These are to be a people who have a mission, who are to be these priests, who are to minister  the Lord’s will. Not only to themselves, but to the nations.

Because of course it wasn’t exclusivity  that God was creating here, it was inclusivity.  The door was open, but it was Israel’s responsibility to be the ones who would tell of the goodness of the Lord.  And we have to go to the book of Leviticus to figure out how all of that would happen, and how all of that would form and come about, so that the way to God’s presence could be open, but of course, it could only be opened by Jesus Christ.

And as we finish up, here’s another, just a different, Line drawing without the colors just to show you where everything is more plainly and simply of how it was structured and even there You get to see maybe more clearly the wooden poles and everything that was going to be in place.  And so as we Consider the frame and the curtains of the tabernacle.

It might put you in the mood of a wee bit of home decorating I don’t know,  but it is significant.  Remember all scripture is God breathed  and it has a purpose You  There’s a reason for it. And so as we look at this, we see just how special a place of meeting it was  for the people of God through their mediators, the Levites, the priests, and the high priest.

Everything was put in place. Everything had its proper place. And by the way, this is the bit of furniture that we haven’t looked at yet. We haven’t looked at the altar of incense. That will come at the next time when we think of this.  Everything had to be right. For the worship of God so that no one would be killed because they looked at God Casually  that everyone knew everything was in place for how they could Present themselves to the Lord because we must always come to God in humility Remembering that he is creator and we are his creatures And that’s what everything of this tabernacle speaks of.

And the tabernacle continues to be a reminder to us of the perfection of God. His perfection is an important quality to remember for it gives us confidence that actually He is the one who is in control when we think everything is out of control.  And He is doing exactly what is right for us. even when things don’t seem to be going well for us.

And let’s never forget that God is perfect in all his ways as the psalmist tells us in psalm 18  and verse 30. This God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.  He’s perfect.  This is who he is, and the tabernacle describes this, and sometimes, whenever I’m giving application, I’m not necessarily telling you what to do tomorrow,  but I’m hoping that you’ll have a bigger vision of God, who God is.

And that through the tabernacle, as we see this cube at the far end of it, the westerly end of the tabernacle,  representing God’s perfection as he sits on his throne, which is the mercy seat. And of under him is the Ark of the Covenant, those promises that he made with the people.  We never approach God lightly because of who he is.

He truly is God Almighty, and we should never forget that, because he is perfect and so are all his ways.  But this isn’t the only perfection that the Bible speaks of. Because God’s perfection points us to the future.  Because we too are being perfected so that we will be ready for eternity. And this is what the writer of Hebrews says to us in Hebrews 10 and verse 14.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.  None of us are perfect. I don’t think any of us would admit to being perfect.  But we will be.  And isn’t that lovely?  Isn’t that a nice thought?  I told you before, I can’t get we to get rid of these. They’ll be perfect in mind.

Would be perfect in body, will be perfect in heart.  But it’s happening now  because  w if we go on to another series, looking at the sacrifices of the Old Testament, you’ll see one of the things that sanctification, the sprinkling of the blood was the sign of sanctification that, that people were being made.

And what does the writer of Hebrew say here? That for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.  We are daily being renewed, daily being sanctified through the work of the Spirit of the Lord, so that we are being made perfect,  and we will be perfect in eternity.

Now that’s not to give you a big head going out here thinking I’m 75 percent perfect.  I’ve no idea what percentage you are.  I think I’m 0. 000075, maybe seven, four.  We are being made perfect the closer we come to Christ because we are being made more like him. And this should challenge us.

This should challenge us that as we approach the Word of God either in our homes or in midweek or on a Sunday morning or Sunday evening, we approach it appropriately. We approach worship appropriately. This is what everything of the Tabernacle, that’s why we have these pictures that show us what the Tabernacle was like, because it reminds us that God has set a way for us to worship Him, then and now.

So that we may know the fullness of his goodness and his grace and his salvation.  And so there is a little bit of deeper thinking to be done in reflection to this  and your questions for further study is Why is it important to understand the tabernacle in the context of the Garden of Eden? And  I suppose by extension if you want to ask a follow up question to that, thinking of it as the Garden of Eden, thinking of it now in exodus, what does it mean in Christ and what does it mean in eternity?

Why is Eden the image that God wants to use?  Secondly, how does the image of the perfection of God in the design of the tabernacle increase your vision of who he is?  This isn’t just a tent that he threw together.  This was designed perfectly because he is perfect. And if this was to be the place where the people would gather around to worship him, what does that tell us about the importance of his perfection and how we respond to it?

And that’s a very practical thing because it’s just, as I said, it’s about how we approach the Bible when we open it  and when we come to sing. I know, I do my best. I honestly do. I don’t, I generally don’t try to annoy anyone on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening.  Some people say, why are you announcing the hymns?

We don’t have hymn books. But I want you to know where things are coming from because I want you to know the value of the old as well as the value of the new so that we know what we’re singing.  So that we’re not saying, oh I don’t like this one, I don’t like that one, because that’s actually not what it’s about.

I’m sorry to tell you it’s not about you,  it’s about us all. It’s about us all worshipping together with one voice.  Since coming home from the Youth Fellowship Week one or two things have been said to me by some young people and some parents. I’m going to be honest here, if you came to Youth Fellowship on a Sunday night and heard the young people sing, you’d roll your eyes and just walk out and say teenagers.

The weekend was different.  I have never heard our Youth Fellowship sing like they did. And do you know what the number one song was that they sung their heartiest  at? It’s a new version of Man of Sorrows.  And they didn’t know it was old words. I did, because I grew up without him.  And yet here was a new tune, and it, of all of the ones, was the one they were belting out the most.

Worship isn’t about one person in human terms. It’s not about preference. It’s not even about the tune. It’s not even about the music. It’s about the words,  which then accompanied by music and the tune, allow us to express what we believe about God together. Whether it’s a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song, we sing them because they’re good to sing  and because they have meaning of what we believe.

So this image of a God who is perfect, as we approach him in worship, we should be changed.  We should be focusing on who he is and what he has done so that we can stand in that moment to worship him. I’ve often said at the start of our service, we don’t simply rock up on a Sunday morning.  And we shouldn’t simply rock up on a Sunday morning or Sunday evening.

We should be there not only because we want to be there, but because we intend to meet with the Lord.  Because that’s what we do when we gather as his people.  The third question for further study this evening is, How can greater, and this is the standard question, How can greater understanding of the blueprint of the tabernacle draw you closer to God as you live your life for him?

What else are you pulling out of it? What other ideas are you having that help you understand God? who God is. Of course, everything that we’ve looked at so far, there’s handouts here that you can take with you, but everything else is there on the website, and certainly tonight’s stuff will hopefully be up in the next 24 hours anyway, we’ll say.

I’ll not commit to time. But let me finish in prayer at this part this evening. Let’s pray. Our Father God, we do thank you for what we learned about your tabernacle.  Thank you for every significant thing that’s in gold, the silver, the bronze. The scarlet, the red the purple, the blue,  the embroidery, everything that tells us of what you intend worship to be,  that you desire us to worship you, that you want Eden restored,  and that you want us to have a relationship with you just like Adam and Eve did before the fall.

And Father, thank you that as we sit here this evening,  thank you that we know that relationship restored in Jesus Christ.  So we pray that you will help us to learn.  It will help us to adapt and change our ways, so that we will be more intentional in how we worship you at home,  in public worship,  and everywhere else that we find ourselves.

That we will be people who honour you as we worship you,  because it’s good to do,  for us and for each other,  and ultimately is a sweet fragrance that blesses your very soul. So  be with us as we put this in practice, in Jesus name,  Amen.