[0:00] our worship and particularly welcome to John and Rene Fletcher and I might mention them a bit later in the service they know why but nobody else will know why and other visitors as well we trust that together in God's presence we may know his help and encouragement. I'd like you please to turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews in chapter 2. Sometimes we read a psalm together on an evening or part of a psalm sometimes we read part of another portion of scripture to focus our thoughts our worship our minds upon who it is that we are worshiping and Hebrews chapter 2 as with really the whole of the letter to the Hebrews is concerned with the greatness of Jesus is being greater than Moses greater than the high priests Aaron the angels the greatest of them all and but also it explains to us and talks to us about his humanity and in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10 I'd like you just to follow with me as I read these verses through to verse 18 before we come to worship together thinking about our Savior in bringing many sons and daughters to glory it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy of the same family so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters he says I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters in the assembly I will sing your praises and again I will put my trust in him and again he says here I am and the children God has given me since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death for surely is not to eight for surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham's descendants for this reason he had to be made like them fully human in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service of God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people because he himself suffered when he was tempted he was tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted it's amazing mystery isn't it that the everlasting and eternal God should be made in every way like us but we know apart from sin so that he might be that perfect savior of sinners let's stand and sing 167 that hymn of
[3:06] Graham Kendrick that reminds us of this incredible truth meekness and majesty manhood and deity in perfect harmony the man who is God 167 let's stand and sing let us indeed bow and worship as we bow our heads in prayer and draw near to God through the name and through the son of Jesus O Lord our God we gladly confess that it is indeed to us an amazing mystery that your son the eternal son of God should become a man like us fully God and fully man fully eternal and everlasting with no beginning or no end yet born into this world to die in this world immortal yet mortal infinite and yet finite O Lord how can we possibly grasp the majesty and the wonder and the glory of Jesus becoming human the incarnation we bless you and thank you that it is true though we do not fully understand or fully comprehend yet O Lord by faith we know it is true we know it is true because your word declares it we know it is true because when we look at the very life of our Lord Jesus Christ as his as his existence as it were as his ministry leaps from the pages of scripture we cannot help but see here is God walking and living amongst men here is God stooping and condescending to be the one who dwells with human beings yes Lord even with sinners we thank you for that name by which he was known that mocking and ridiculing name the friend of sinners Lord to us it's a most delightful title it's a most wonderful phrase that the son of God God himself should be a friend to sinners you were the friend of Abraham we're told but Lord you are our friend too our friend not our enemy though once we were enemies of yours once we were in ignorance set apart and set against you separated and lost our hearts and our minds in hatred of you the holy and just God but Lord we thank you that now we are friends thank you that that wall of division sin itself has been dealt with thank you that that enmity has been dealt with thank you that having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ no more our Lord do we gaze upon you with eyes of hate no longer do you consider us objects of your wrath and anger but oh Lord even more than friends you count us as your children you count us as your sons and daughters you count us as members of your family you count us as being those who you wear upon your hearts thank you that we read there how the Lord Jesus considers us brothers and sisters oh how amazing that is that he is our elder brother who has done all things to assure and to accomplish and to achieve for us an inheritance that shall never perish or fade kept in heaven
[7:11] for us we thank you that all that he has done he's done on our behalf so that now oh Lord in Jesus we are accepted in the beloved grant us this evening as we come to worship as we come to praise as we come to pray as we come to hear your word read and preached we ask again oh Lord that from our hearts and our lives there may flow real genuine heartfelt worship that we may be able Lord in reality be able to say this is my God he is the Lord of my life he is the Lord of my life he is the one who I long to obey who I long to please who I long to serve who I long to follow may we find ourselves enraptured again with Jesus so that we cannot do anything else but say master speak your servant is listening we pray Lord that again you would encourage us according to our need that you would challenge and convict us according to our need that you administer your grace in our lives according to your wonderful goodness faithfulness and grace and we ask these things all as we bring our prayers to you in the name of Jesus Christ your son our savior amen please would you turn in your bibles to Exodus and chapter 25 Exodus and chapter 25 those who are with us regularly on a Sunday evening know that we've returned to Exodus we did a study up to and including chapter 20 which we stopped after we'd done the 10 commandments earlier in the year and then we took a break and we've come back to Exodus last week we're in chapter 24 looking at the covenant they're in the new covenant that was given to Moses and to the people and what that taught us about the new covenant of Christ and then we're going to look at this evening chapter 25 verses 1 to 9 and then just flip over the page to chapter 26 verses 31 to the end and I'll explain why that is later on so first of all Exodus and chapter 25 beginning at verse 1 reading through to verse 9 the Lord said to Moses tell the Israelites to bring me an offering you are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give these are the offerings you are to receive from them gold silver and bronze blue purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen goat hair ramskins dyed red and another type of durable leather acacia wood olive oil for the light spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece then let them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you and then turn over please if you would to chapter 26 of the page and then verse 30 verse 30 to the end set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain make a curtain of blue purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain the curtain the curtain will separate the holy place from the
[11:17] most holy place put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the most holy place place place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side for the entrance to the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue purple and scarlet yarn and finely finely twisted linen the work of an embroiderer make gold hooks for this curtain five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and cast five bronze bases for them well we'll come back to this a bit later if you'd like to have uh exodus 25 or so in that sort of area open in your bibles uh we will be uh looking at a couple of places in exodus but we'll also be looking in hebrews as we did last week we saw that very much what we uh read about in exodus uh and in the old testament is explained opened up to us illuminated to us particularly uh in hebrews and other parts of the new testament so uh we'll be popping into hebrews chapter 9 and 10 later too i know there's some folk here who are very uh steadfast campers who uh go to places like france and uh in the wind and the rain and uh hardy folk put it that way um on a few occasions and and i and the children have been camping but every time it's been a disaster of one degree or another so i think we've basically given that up as a bad job now uh in fact the very last time we went camping several years ago was no exception uh we thought we'd be a bit more wiser than in the past we thought we'll find a campsite close to where we live this is back in devon so we found one just 10 miles away from home and we also thought best just to book one night just in case it doesn't go so well and if it goes well then we can book a second night and see how we get on well all was going well the tent was put up it was a nice evening a dry evening we even went to lit a campfire and i think we probably sang some silly songs around about the campfire and so on and it was time for bed and we managed to cram ourselves into this what was advertised as a nine berth tent but there was only four and a half of us and we still found it rather squeezy uh to get in but nonetheless we managed and we sort of drifted off to sleep uh in the middle of the night a light drizzle began to fall uh but that light drizzle was more than enough to penetrate the seams of the tent uh so that rivers and puddles began to appear and before long streams were running under the pillows and the sleeping bags at four o'clock we got up and we went home that was the end of our camping for now well having experienced camping in that way and perhaps you've had similar experiences or things like that it is all the more surprising to find that god instructs his people to make for him a tent to dwell in and that's really what it was a tent in fact it's called a tent uh in in the reading we had in exodus 26 verse 36 for the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue why did god give instructions regarding the tabernacle which is of course the proper name that it has well it must be important because god gives a lot of instruction here in exodus and then he also talks about the things not only of how it's to be made and the the uh materials that were to be used and the process he talks about what was to go on in the tabernacle and time is given to exodus and leviticus and numbers even parts of deuteronomy so it must be important it must be something that god wants us to understand and so what i'm going to
[15:22] do and what we're going to do this evening is very briefly look at the three different titles given to the tabernacle three different names that are given to it here in the readings we've had and in other places to explain its purpose to give us an insight not only to why god created the tabernacle but what it means in his relationship to his people then and his relationship to us his people now so that first name that it's given is tabernacle that's the one it's best known for and that of course is a translation from the hebrew the whole of the old testament written in hebrew and the word for tabernacle is mishkan it means a dwelling place make a dwelling place for me verse 9 that's why of course we read there verse 8 let them make a sanctuary for me and i will dwell with them it's the purpose given to this tent now as i said when we introduced the reading and if you were here last week we looked at this covenant that god made with moses as the people immediately before he instructs them to make this tabernacle god had entered into a very special relationship with these ex-egyptian slaves these descendants of abraham and in making that covenant with them now he calls upon them to make this tabernacle it wasn't god's first covenant with his people as we know his sending moses to rescue the people from egypt was he tells us because he was fulfilling his promises made to the covenant to abraham isaac and jacob and god is very particular when he says that that these three men are the ones that he had made his covenant promises to they were three men who had experienced the very real presence of the lord during their lives they had met with him if you remember abraham in genesis 18 at those mamor trees the lord appears and speaks with him with two angels before he goes down to sodom and gomorrah then there's isaac at beersheba in genesis in chapter 26 and that particular incident with jacob when he wrestled with god in one sense actually physically laying hands upon the lord in genesis 32 these men all met with god they all experienced god's nearness and those meetings with god was to encourage them in their faith to strengthen them in their faith to assure them that god was with them wherever they went and so god so spoke to isaac and said to him in genesis 26 i am the god of your father abraham do not be afraid for i am with you that's the very essential part of any covenant that god made with his people it's always that covenant of being your god and you being my people of being with them never leaving nor forsaking but here's the problem how does god assure his people who number at this point around about two million but it was going to increase of course how does he assure them that he is with them what sign could he give them what what uh what proof could he give to them that he was with them in the midst of them that they were in a covenant friendship and relationship with him well that's why he commands the making of the tabernacle it was to be placed in the very center of the camp with all the other tents of the tribe surrounding it so whenever people woke in the morning whenever they got up there they could see the tabernacle that that assurance that picture that symbol that god was with them it was a unique tent but ultimately it was a tent
[19:22] nonetheless there's significance in that god doesn't command the building of a temple there in sinai he doesn't command them to stay where they are and surround the mountain of sinai or to put some monastery at the top this tent is not a permanent dwelling place it's in one sense god reflecting his empathy with the people as you live in tents in this wilderness so i will live in a tent as well where you dwell i dwell where you go i go now of course we know that god fills the universe he's still the one who sits on the throne in the heavens he never changes in that sense he's not located in one particular place or another the tent was there to assure them that the lord was dwelling amongst them now i hope as we think about this thought of god with us our minds immediately begin to think of our lord jesus christ immanuel god with us this tent this tabernacle as in all the things that we see in it ultimately are to direct our thoughts to the lord jesus christ there's a wonderful connection that comes out in the gospel of john in chapter one because john tells us that the eternal word the son of god god became flesh and made his dwelling among us and that little word again made his dwelling amongst us is literally tabernacled amongst us pitched his tent amongst us the human body is thought of and spoken of as a tent by the apostle peter and paul as well but peter says this in chapter one of his second letter as long as i live in the tent of this body as long as i live in this frail temporary structure because that's what our bodies are and yet jesus chose to come down and live in the tent of our humanity the son of god who fills the universe at the birth of christ took upon himself a tent like our our own a vessel a dwelling place like ours wherever we go he has gone before us and more than that he still goes with us as he said to his disciples on that day in which he was ascended to the heaven lo look behold i am with you always even to the very end of the age that's why we read in hebrews in chapter two for this reason he had to be made like them fully human in every way the tabernacle points to jesus and it tells us that wherever we go christ goes with us that he dwells with us that he never leaves us and though it's even in the wilderness even in a tent there can be no place that we can escape from the presence of the lord lovely psalm isn't there psalm 139 if i go up to the heavens you are there if i go to the depths you are there if i go to the far side of the sea you are there even the darkness cannot hide me from you for darkness is his day to you the tabernacle tells us that god is with us then the other uh title the second title that the tabernacle is given is a sanctuary we see there again in chapter 25 of exodus verse 8 let them make a sanctuary again another hebrew word mikdosh means a holy place place a holy place now the tabernacle was a tent as i've said and we can see that because we've told what it's made of various uh cloths various uh leathers various uh types of skins but ultimately it
[23:27] was a tent but it was of course a special tent wasn't it it had all these gold hooks it had this finery around it had this these embroideries on it of cherubim and so on there's something special about it because ultimately of course it the god who dwelt there was special as well the lord who dwelt there was holy it was a holy place it was set apart for god's use alone that's what the word holy means to be set apart to be exclusively the lord's the same word as sacred people weren't meant to use the tent if it rained the tabernacle they weren't to think oh it's raining outside i'll rush into the tabernacle and get some shelter oh it's so boiling hot i'll go and relax in the shade of the tabernacle no it wasn't a community center it was god's sanctuary for wherever god dwells is holy moses learned that at the very beginning didn't he when in the in the wilderness he saw the burning bush and as he approached the burning bush what did god say to him take off the sandals from your feet this place on which you stand is holy ground because god was there wherever god is there is holiness excuse me i'm down to a few more sips and we can see that point made clearly in chapter 26 where he read there about these two parts of the tent two parts of the tabernacle the holy place and the most holy place verse 33 of chapter 26 yes god has condescended to dwell amongst his people yes god in great humility has come and descended and dwells in a tent a humble tent but that doesn't mean that somehow god has given up his standards doesn't mean that god is no longer holy that he is no longer glorious doesn't mean that god has somehow changed his nature we we want a god at least the world wants a god who will who will be on our level the god who comes down to us the god who is our buddy or our mate a god who who likes to have a pint in the pub or whatever it may be the world wants a god who is not going to challenge our our conceptions of him or our lifestyle but god though he condescends though he humbles himself though he comes down to us he does not stop being god does not stop being holy and awesome and fearful just people needed reminding of that they needed reminding that though this god is a gracious covenant god he is not a god they can be over familiar with he's still a god who is against sin he's still a god who who calls down upon his people his righteous laws for them to obey and so this tabernacle was a constant reminder that the lord was holy the holy place and the most holy place that god had come amongst them but he was still a god they could only know from a distance they couldn't just enter into his presence willy-nilly they couldn't just know him on their own terms no you can know me but you can only know me at a distance you cannot enter into my presence that holy place and that holy of holies as we know was a place that the high priest was only allowed to enter once a year and that with blood by calling it a sanctuary god was reminding his people that they were constantly in the presence of a holy god so yes they opened this flint the the flaps of their tent in the morning and they saw the tabernacle and the tabernacle reminded them yes
[27:31] god has not left us god is with us but this god is a holy god he's a god who has laid upon me his commandments he's a holy god who i must obey whom i must shun evil i must not allow it a place in my life and when we think of the lord jesus christ who tabernacled amongst us we recognize that here in this frail human body dwells the eternal son of god right to the hebrews in chapter one reminds us that when jesus came he came to reveal to us the glorious holiness of god he says in hebrews 1 3 the sun is the radiance of god's glory sometimes when we read about the life of the lord jesus people love to read about the humanity of jesus and there's nothing wrong in that but dear friends when we read about the humanity of jesus we are actually seeing the glory of god his glory is not hidden in his humanity his glory is revealed in his humanity when he is compassionate he's not being human he's being god when he is merciful he's not being human he's being god when he is performing those credible acts of feeding the 5 000 of healing the sick of raising the dead things that we think well that's so loving that that's that's so caring and compassionate it is but it's revealing the glory of god what is god like look at jesus that's who he's like but of course it's not just in the perfection of the life of jesus that the holiness of god is revealed the holiness of god is especially revealed when we see the death of christ in our place upon the cross when we hear the words of jesus declaring and crying out my god my god why have you forsaken me there we see the full extent of god's holy anger against sin there we recognize that this is not a god to be trifled with or messed with this is not a god you can be over familiar with for here's a god who even where he sees sin upon his perfect and sinless son he punishes it and he acts with judgment against it this is not a god who is not a god who is not a god who stands clearly and uprightly and righteously different thank god that he is different that we do not have a god who is made in our image but we have a we are those who are made in the image of god yes we can take great comfort great comfort from the fact that the son of god humbled himself and came and tabernacled amongst us we can take take great comfort from the fact that he took upon himself the frailty knows what it is to hunger knows it is to to be cold know what it is to be tired knows what it is to grieve and to weep and to mourn how wonderful it is to know that there is a god in heaven who understands what it is to live in this world but let us never forget his divine and holy nature let us never forget and let's never never treat him with anything else but the honor and the reverence and the awe that he rightfully deserves
[31:06] Jesus Christ is our sanctuary our holy place he is the one who reveals God's holiness and then there's one more title that is ascribed and given to this tabernacle it's a tabernacle a sanctuary that's a dwelling place and a holy place but elsewhere it's also called the tent of meeting and we need to turn to chapter 29 a little later in exodus to read that exodus 29 and verses 42 and following exodus 42 sorry exodus 29 sorry exodus 29 verse 42 for the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the lord there i will meet you and speak to you there i also i will meet with the israelites and the place will be consecrated by my glory so i will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate aaron and his sons to serve me as priests then i will dwell among the israelites and be their god they will know that i am the lord their god who brought them out of egypt so that i might dwell among them i am the lord their god and later on in chapter 40 you don't need to turn to it but chapter 40 the word tap the word tabernacle and tent of meeting are used interchangeably god says set up the tabernacle comma the tent of meeting on the first day of the month so the tent of meeting oh hell and moed in the hebrew before the tabernacle was built moses had a tent of meeting do you remember that if you read that in exodus it was a place where he would go daily and speak with the lord in exodus chapter 33 and verse 7 we're told this moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away calling it the tent of meeting we're told that moses would go in there and he would meet with god face to face and god would speak with him verse 9 as moses went into the tent the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the lord spoke with moses what an incredible privilege moses had at that little tent of meeting but now this tabernacle is also called the tent of meeting not just for one man not just for moses but for all the people so it wasn't just the place where they gathered to worship god wasn't just the place where they brought their sacrifices and offerings to god but we're told it's a place where god says i will meet with my people how would he meet with them how could they come and meet with this holy god how could they sinful lawbreakers enter into the tabernacle and meet with god who is holy and just well again the only way was through sacrifice it was there in the meeting place in the tent of meeting in the tabernacle in the century that in the sanctuary where the justice of god was met with the offerings of animals it was through blood and blood alone that they could come and enter into the presence of god and meet with him an altar was set up before the holy of holies in the tent where offerings were brought and so when we think about the meeting place where god and humanity meet we again are brought to jesus aren't we we again brought to the sacrifice of jesus it is through jesus christ and in jesus christ alone that we meet with god you cannot meet with jesus with god anywhere else in the world except in jesus
[35:14] you can't meet with god by going to mount sinai now you can't meet with god by going into what is left of the temple in jerusalem you cannot meet with god in in a church building you can only meet with god in jesus he's the tabernacle he's the one who brings god and men together he's the only mediator between god and man the man christ jesus but we can approach god and meet with him in a way which is very different to that of the israelites we do not come with fear and trepidation we do not come with offerings and sacrifices hoping that then some way we can purchase forgiveness we come now with confidence and assurance here's what the writer to the hebrews says in chapter 10 of his letter therefore brothers and sisters since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of jesus by a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body and since we have a great high priest over the house of god let us draw near to god with a sincere heart and with a full assurance that faith brings how is it possible that we can enter into the sanctuary we can enter into the holy of holies that you and i can meet with god and fellowship with him and speak with him and know him speaking with us it's only possible because jesus himself entered not the earthly tabernacle to bring a sacrifice of animals but we're told in hebrews he entered the heavenly and true tabernacle of which the earthly is but a shadow hebrews in chapter 9 and verse 11 tells us this when christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands that is to say it's not a part of this creation and in entering into the tabernacle entering in to the very holy place of heaven he brought that sacrifice that one real true sacrifice a sacrifice that would never be need to be repeated or given again and again but a sacrifice that had lasting power to forgive for the next verse tells us he did not enter by the means of the blood of goats and calves but he entered the most holy place once for all by his own blood so obtaining eternal redemption the meeting place of god the dwelling place of god the holy place of god it's all in christ and so there remains just finally one thing one thing that the tabernacle points to for the christian and that is the permanent dwelling place that we have with god where we shall meet with him in the perfection of holiness the great message of revelation is surely this and it culminates with this wonderful truth in revelation 21 i heard a loud voice from the throne saying look god's dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them what is it that makes heaven so heavenly it's because christ is there what is it makes it so delightful so joyful because we shall see him and meet with him and be with him forevermore the tabernacle was just a tent it was something temporary it was something just for a time even the temple itself was not permanent but for a time because it pointed to that heavenly tabernacle that everlasting temple something permanent was hoped for by god's people looked forward to by god's people even this comes out in hebrews
[39:23] concerning abraham by faith we're told in hebrews chapter 11 and verse 10 he was looking forward to a city with foundations whose architect and builder is god he and isaac and jacob lived in tents they lived in tents because it was telling them that they had a permanent home that this world and everything in it is temporary that's a very important lesson for us to grasp dear friends it's vital for us to understand as christians that whatever we have in this world is temporary whether it be possessions or houses or homes or cars even loved ones and families they are temporary what we have in christ is permanent and eternal it can never be taken from us it can never wear out or be removed we have a permanent home in heaven because the son of god tabernacled with us he has promised us that we shall dwell with him forever remember those wonderful words of jesus on the night before he was killed in john on chapter 14 he'd explained to his disciples that he must leave them and we know that their hearts were troubled for he tells them that but how does he calm their troubled hearts by telling them this my father's house has many rooms if that were not so would i have told you that i'm going there to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where i am is that your hope is that your confidence is that what you're looking forward to this tent this tabernacle is but for a time that home that home that dwelling place is for eternity are you in christ have you tabernacled in him have you come and entered into faith in christ so that now you are in christ he has become your protection your covering your holy place the the one who is everything and all things to you have you made your home in him for the with the confidence that one day you shall have a home with him let's sing together our final hymn it's number 859 859 i saw a new vision of jesus of you i'd not seen here before beholding in glory so wondrous with beauty i had to adore chapter 3 verse 3 is particularly a pointer to reminder of what is yet to come 859 may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit to the only wise god be glory forever through jesus christ amen prize antipathy