The Completed Construction Exodus 38

Well good morning everyone and welcome. I hope everybody had a blessed Thanksgiving day. We did certainly and God is good and see his provision abundantly. I think for most of us we can see how God is always there taking care of our needs and it can be tough at times but we thank the Lord that he's always going to be there for us.

The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ and Trusting God for the Impossible

So I wanted to share before we go to the Lord in prayer out of the The Voice magazine and there's a copy in the back again but I was reading through this and this article was entitled The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ Defended and George Harton went through and did a nice job of saying how should we defend the virgin birth, how integral and important it is to our faith as believers.

That really is fundamentally if you can discredit or not discredit the virgin birth we have no faith, we have no, we would not exist as a church. But God's son was brought into this world and by way of a virgin and it's his last phrase is, his last paragraph says, what is causing your heart to tremble?

God assured Ahaz, Mary and Joseph that they did not need to fear. They were all instructed to trust God for something they thought was impossible. May we trust God for our impossibilities. Let's not lean on our own understanding but wholly lean on God's power and provision.

That's what Joseph and Mary did when God revealed the virgin birth to them. This Christmas may we celebrate the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus and trust him completely. So just good thoughts to remember as we approach this Christmas time and when the world has to at least distantly acknowledge that there is a Christ, that Jesus did exist, we know for truth.

But let's take this time to remember in sharing that with the world around us, our neighbors, our friends, and our co-workers, okay? So let's open in prayer. Lord God we thank you that you have brought us here today.

Father we are blessed to have you, to know your son Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We thank you that you brought him into this world miraculously Lord by way of Mary and we thank you that you have completed your mission here with Jesus on this earth that he's died and rose again and is in heaven today.

Father praying for each one of us Lord. So we thank you that we can celebrate and we can acknowledge his existence, that we can acknowledge our walk in our lives. Father as we trust you and as we learn more and grow in our own personal walk.

God we pray that you would bless this service today, that we would honor you, that we would bring you glory Father in everything that we do, that we thank you for the musicians, we thank you for Lauren filling in and playing the piano Lord and what a blessed wonderful job she does.

And we thank you for her, we thank you for their little one Micah Lord and in their family. God bless those that are not here today that are traveling, that are away from home and with family. God would you watch over them we pray.

And but now in this time Lord may we just focus our hearts on you that we would allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us Lord as we open your word and sing these praises we pray in Jesus name amen. I'm.

A Reading from 1 Peter 1:17-21

Going to be reading from 1st Peter 1 verses 17 through 21. And if you call on the Father who without partially judged according to each one's work conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. But what the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. Who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in the in God.

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of these words. Please turn with.

The Finished Tabernacle and the Courtyard in Exodus 38

Me to Exodus chapter 38. Exodus chapter 38 we are nearing the end of the book of Exodus and today marks the day in which Israel has finished constructing the whole tabernacle including the courtyard. Not just the tent but the whole tabernacle tabernacle as an enterprise right.

The courtyard is included. So Exodus chapter 38 he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood five cubits was its length and five cubits its width. It was square and its height was three cubits. He made its horns on its four corners.

The horns were of one piece with it and he overlaid it with bronze. He made all the utensils for the altars the pans the shovels the basins the forks the fire pans all its utensils he made of bronze and he made a grate of bronze network for the altar under its rim midway from the bottom.

He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles and he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze and he put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar with which to bear it.

He made the altar hollow with boards. He made the laver of bronze it's been its base of bronze from the bronze mirror of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle at meeting. Then he made the court of the south side the hangings of the court were a fine woven linen 100 cubits long.

There were 20 pillars for them with 20 bronze sockets the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver. On the north side the hangings were 100 cubits long with 20 pillars and their 20 bronze sockets the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver.

And on the west side there were hangings of 50 cubits and 10 pillars and their 10 sockets with hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver. For the east side the hangings were 50 cubits the hangings of one side of the gate were 15 cubits long with their three pillars and their three sockets and the same for the other side of the court gate.

On this side and that were hangings of 15 cubits with their three pillars on their three sockets. All the hangings of the court all around were a fine woven linen the sockets for the pillars were bronze and hooks at the pillars and their bands were silver and the overlay of the capitals was silver and all the and all the pillars of the court had bands of silver.

The screen for the gate of the court were woven a blue purple and scarlet thread and the fine woven linen the length was 20 cubits in the height along its width was five cubits corresponding to the hangings of the court.

And there were four pillars with their four sockets of bronze their hooks were silver and the overlay of their capitals and their bands were was silver. All the pegs of the tabernacle and the court all around were bronze.

This is the inventory of the tabernacle the tabernacle of the testimony which was counted according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites by the hand of Itamar son of Aaron the priest.

Bazalel the son of Uri the son of Hur the son of the tribe of Judah made all that the Lord has commanded Moses. And with him was a holy of the son of a he somehow the tribe of Dan an engraver and designer a weaver a blue purple scarlet thread and a fine linen all the gold that was used in all the work of the holy place.

That is the gold of the offering was twenty nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary and the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy five shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary a Becca for each man that is half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary for everyone included in the numbering from 20 years old and above for six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men and from the hundred talents of silver what were cast the sockets of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil one hundred sockets from the hundred talents one talent for each socket.

Then from the one thousand seven hundred and seventy five shekels he made hooks for the pillars overlaid their capitals and made bands for them. The offering of bronze was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels and with it he made the sockets for the door of the tabernacle of meeting the bronze altar the bronze grading for it and all the utensils for the altar the sockets for the court all around the bases for the court gate all the pegs for the tabernacle and all the pegs for the court all around.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father we are thankful that we worship you who delight to dwell among your people. Thank you that it is not because of our goodness it is not because of our stellar records but because of your grace and mercy that you dwell among us.

And today father we thank you that we get to experience your presence. We ask that your Holy Spirit would work in all of our hearts to convict us of our sin and draw us near to the compassionate hands of Christ who receive us not for our merit but for what he has done.

We pray that we would experience his love even more today in Jesus name. Amen. Now we're finishing up the whole tabernacle even the courtyard. And for many of us when we read a chapter like that in the Bible during the quiet time our eyes glaze over.

We haven't seen the tabernacle. We won't see the tabernacle. What is the point of all that record with the bronze and the silver and the gold. What are the hangings. What are the sockets. What are the foundations.

Right. But I want to I want us to reconsider in our minds how important that was for the ancient Israelites. For the ancient Israelites up until that point in which they finished the courtyard there was no other way of meeting with God ever unless you are a special few individuals.

And Moses was one of them and he met with God on Mount Sinai while the rest watched from the ground floor. But now they're going to have the presence of God dwelling among them inside the camp as if he is one of them.

And you can see how special that courtyard would have been. And how exciting even the record of giving was. It wasn't just a huge amount of numbers to them it was actually the record that allowed them to make it possible to experience God's dwelling presence among them.

It was an exciting accomplishment. And with that in mind we want to think about this chapter for the first time in history after the Garden of Eden God's people had a dwelling access to God. They could constantly go to God.

And we take this for granted as Christians because we can always pray in Jesus name to get to the throne room of the father. But the tabernacle sets the background that allows us to be made clean and pure in order for us to approach God without getting killed.

The reason why we can pray in Jesus name and that the father hears us is not because we're good enough but because of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ that he made us clean he made us pure and he made us his children.

And because of that we can approach God. And in the background of that is the bronze altar. The bronze altar that allowed for the sacrificial system in which the ancient Israelites could offer up an innocent animal.

And by sprinkling the blood on the horns of the altar their sins are not only forgiven but they're reconciled with God. They have peace with God. They devote themselves to God. The sacrificial system inherently was not a legalistic system but a gracious offer a gift from God in order that his sinful people may dwell among God's presence without perishing in their sin.

So the main point of today's text is when God takes initiative to dwell among his people his people respond in willing obedience. When God takes initiative to dwell among his people his people respond in willing obedience.

First verses one through eight cover. When God dwells among his people he provides a way for his people to devote themselves. When God dwells among his people he provides a way for his people to devote themselves.

Now after constructing everything that's related to the tabernacle the tent we zoom out to the courtyard and the main furnishing of the courtyard is described in the first eight verses. The first six verses they cover the bronze altar and the last two verses cover the laver the wash basin.

And these items were crucial in Israel because they provided for Israel to commune with the Holy God. They provided a way for Israel to relate to the Holy God to have a relationship with the Holy God.

There were not just neutral strangers but with through these tools they were actually in a relationship a covenantal relationship a loving relationship a faithful relationship. Otherwise without these furnishing Israel also would be cut off from God due to their sinfulness.

Now unlike the tabernacles furnishing these items were actually visible to normal Israelites. They were not covered up. Any Israelite would have been allowed to see the altar of sacrifice. And they would even see the sacrifice taking place by the priests right.

They could personally witness the death of an innocent animal which they brought dying on their behalf for their sin in order that they may continue in their relationship with God without perishing. They got to see their precious innocent animals who didn't sin against God them dying on their behalf and upon their sprinkled blood.

They're made clean. The owners are made clean before God. Now verse one starts with the dimensions of the bronze altar. The dimensions in the modern measurement the dimensions are 7 .5 by 7 .5 feet. That is the square top right here and then the height is a 4 .5 feet in height.

So it's not a perfect cube but it has a square top now. The second verse describes the structure of the altar. He made its horns on its four corners. The horns were of one piece with it and he overlaid it with bronze horns in the ancient days represented power and strength.

And what we need to picture is with with the ancient Israel culture the Hebrew language itself is very picturesque. So when we do talk the Old Testament I like to even think about it as a movie because the words themselves the imagery show what a picture that we need to have in mind.

Right. It's very visible it's palpable. And what it is is when you when you think of horns picture a powerful beast that is raising its horns up to the sky. Right. And it would be those horns that represent the power and strength who can go against those beasts.

Right. Bulls or rams those horns are raised to the sky. And it would be precisely on these horns that the blood of the innocent animal would be sprinkled on so that Israel may continue in their covenantal relationship with the Lord their treaty with the Lord.

Right. Their promised relationship with the Lord. And verses three to four list the items required for the bronze altar. He made all the utensils for the altar the pans the shovels the basins the forks and the fire pans.

All its utensils he made of bronze and he made a great of bronze network for the altar under its rim midway from the bottom. Now to go over these bronze utensils. The shovels were used for gathering the ashes from the altar.

Altars discard pile. Right. The sacrifice would be burnt of burnt offerings. Most of it were burnt up. Right. And the ashes would gather. So they needed the shovel to clear that out. Of course with the sinful people you would expect a lot of ashes.

All the basins were used for collecting blood for sprinkling on the altar. And the blood is really important because the blood represented the life force of the living being. This is why in the Bible God's people are forbidden from consuming blood because you have to respect the life of the animal that's killed.

You don't just desecrate that you don't corrupt it. You don't take it as a consumable. And this was very different from the surrounding pagan nations. The pagan nations did not really sacrifice the blood.

They didn't see much use or value in the blood. However God required Israel to offer up the blood. And this is because again the blood represents the life force of the animal which exclusively belongs to God.

All lives belong exclusively to God. That's why murder is wrong. You don't get to take someone else's life because that life belongs to God. That's why suicide is wrong. You don't get to take your even your own life because in the end it belongs to God.

And the act of sprinkling a bull's blood on the horn of the altar which symbolized returning the life back to God the life giver. It was a physical teaching lesson for the Israelites. I'm returning back the life that belongs to God back to whom it belongs.

The life of the bull would be the substitute for the sinner's life. It was a teaching reminder. It could have been. It would have been. It should have been me shedding that blood. It should have been my blood shed on the altar for my sin.

But an innocent animal died on my behalf so that I may be cleansed and remain in his faithful relationship with the Lord. And the forks were used to turn over the meat while it was being sacrificed. And that's because not every meat was burnt up to the crisp.

Some sacrifices allowed for cooking of the meat to be shared among the people. Think of it as communing with the Lord. Having a festive party a feast with the Lord. And the fire pans were used to scoop up coals and take embers.

And all of the accessories associated with the bronze altar were made out of bronze just like the altar. And then the grate all would be used to grill the meat on the altar of sacrifice. For example peace offering a type of sacrifice that's different from burnt offering allowed Israel to enjoy the sacrifice with the Lord.

It was the external sign of their deep covenantal relationship with the Lord. They have a type of relationship with a where they can eat together. Right. And in the Middle East all back then also now eating together was a sign of deep friendship a sign of intimacy.

So the fact that Israel was invited to eat the sacrifice with the Lord not that the Lord needed eating either. It was a symbolic gesture of the depth of intimacy that they had together. Then verses 5 to 7 deal with the transportation of the altar.

You can see that their poles going through it and with bronze rings by the altar sides four corners. And this is because just like any other holy artifacts the bronze altar cannot be directly handled for transportation.

This emphasizes the distinction between the holy and the common. Any artifact that directly dealt with the divine was separated from the common anyone but God anyone who is not divine. Therefore the Lord would allow for the bronze altar to be transported but not by human touch because God's holy items could not be corrupted by human touch.

Now verse 8 introduces the bronze washbasin and we're called laver. And this was built to purify the priests who are about to do the sacrifices. Right. He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

Now the bronze are specifically from the mirrors represent that it's precious type of bronze. It's because mirrors back then were very rare and mirrors were made from polished metal so it reflects the image.

And so it had to be of a very good quality very pure type of bronze because if it's filled with impurities it wouldn't reflect the image. Well so the basin was made from high quality bronze. And this existed so that the priests could physically clean themselves before they approach the Lord because the Lord is so holy you had to be pure.

Right. It's not that being dirty led to a moral sin. Right. That's not it. But it was a physical lesson to teach Israel how how much more do I need to be clean on the inside if I have to be clean on the outside to approach the Lord.

Right. It was the physical phenomena that taught them spiritual truth. This God must be extremely pure that even the priests. Right. It's not anyone who get to use this. It's only the priests even they themselves have to approach the Lord in a pure clean form.

And as it was true in Israel and it is true now the biggest problem when the Holy God dwells among his people is their sin. And this is because God is so pure and set apart so holy. No sinner can stand before God and expect to live.

No sinful person can live without experiencing God's holiness that the weight of his glory is just so overwhelming. Even the best of the best humans tremble in fear lest they perish. And we see that all over in the Bible Moses one of the best prophets.

And also Isaiah when the glory of the Lord shows up in the temple a prophet saying woe is me I'm getting I'm perishing. And he calls his lips unclean. And he's the one who's been speaking God's Word all this time.

That is God's holiness. And if these faithful pure men tremble in fear before God what chance do we have. And that is why the sacrificial system is important in ancient Israel. God temporarily instituted the sacrificial system to teach Israel what is required when there is sin.

And what is required according to the sacrificial system on the bronze altar is that an innocent sacrifice must shed its blood in order that the sinner may live. An innocent blood shed on behalf of a sinful person.

And every day you can imagine the Israelites are bringing their sacrifice right their livestock goats bulls rams in order that they may not only be forgiven but restored back into the relationship with God.

Sin offering burnt offering peace offering they were all intended for the sinful people to reconcile with God. It wasn't that they were brought back to the neutral place where they're just friendly neighbors or friendly strangers.

These sacrifices taught Israel if you bring the sacrifice God will graciously accept the unblemished sacrifice by looking at your heart right. Because God doesn't need animals. But by looking at your heart.

And he'll forgive you but not only that he'll continue his relationship with you. That faithful relationship that loving relationship that merciful relationship. And this of course was not meant to be the ultimate goal.

It was not meant for Israelites to continue to bring sacrifices to the tabernacle door. The sacrificial system was a temporary ritual to lead God's people to the ultimate sacrifice. When he came to fulfill the ultimate sacrifice for our sin it was the background lesson in order that they may receive the true ultimate sacrifice Jesus Christ who would once and for all die on the cross shedding his blood his innocent blood on our behalf so that sinners like us may live.

And because his blood is so much more precious than any blood shed by bulls and goats this sacrifice is once and for all. And in Jesus when we pray to him we often say in Jesus name this is a huge claim.

The fact that you can go to God and request him with things that you need is because you are in Jesus name you're admitting the fact that you are made acceptable pure and holy to approach God not because of what you've done but because what he's done.

That's what's in Jesus name. That's why you can have confidence in what Christ has done for you. In Jesus Christ you get the sin offering burnt offering and peace offering all in one. That's what you're doing when you pray in Jesus name.

That's what you're doing when you gather in Jesus name. Second when God dwells among his people God's presence is demarcated through holiness. When God dwells among his people God's presence is demarcated through holiness.

Demarcation means restricted limited setting. The boundary of versus 9 to 11 cover the two long sides of the courtyard. So right here the two long sides the south and the north sides of the courtyard the hangings would be 150 feet.

That's pretty long and they will have both have 20 pillars right. These little sticks there are 20 of them on both north and south side so the hangings would hang. And then the silver bands will be used as hooks to hook the hanging so they don't just fly away and hold the hanging securely right.

And they would have a bronze basis as a foundation. Now versus 12 through 15 covered the two shorter sides. Verse 12 briefly covers the west side and the west side is half in length which is 75 feet in length.

And verses 13 through 15 actually intricately described the east side the entrance side in Israel. The east side was the opening. That's that was true for the tabernacle and that was true for the temple.

The hangings of one side of the gate were 15 cubits long with their three pillars and their three sockets and the same for the other side of the court gate on this side and there were hangings of 15 cubits with their three pillars and there's three sockets so from each corner to the entrance it was about twenty two point five feet to the center.

So right here and here 22 .5 feet. And verses 16 through 17 describe what every side will have in common. All the hangings of the court all around were of fine woven linen very precious items. And the sockets for the pillars were bronze.

The hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver and the overlay of their capitals was silver. And all the pillars of the court had bands of silver again to hold the hangings tightly. Right. And then verse 18 distinguishes the east side again right as as it describes the screen that leads to the tabernacle.

The screen for the gate of the court was woven a blue purple and scarlet thread and a fine woven linen. The length was 20 cubits and height along its width was five cubits corresponding to the hanging of the court.

This screen was not like the other hangings. It was distinguished it was obvious and it was rather large thirty feet in length and seven point five feet in height. Right. And remember the blue and purple linen were special because it was very expensive to reproduce blue and purple coloring.

Now I think we those of us who have been here for a long time can even verbatim quote it. It's made from marine snails. And to make one robe a blue robe would have taken thousands of snails. That's a lot of work hours a lot of manpower.

So the entrance was very specifically set apart to show that this is how you enter into God's presence. And as we see the completion of the tabernacles courtyard we do need to consider the three ritualistic states that existed in Israel holy clean and unclean.

Now I do want to say sin is not a ritualistic state. Sin affects it. But sin is not a ritualistic state that also means unclean does not necessarily always mean sinful. You could be unclean without sinning.

The courtyard is important because it marked off what is holy. Everything inside the courtyard including the tabernacle the tent that was holy. Holy means set apart for the Lord. Holy means extraordinary utterly distinct and pure.

There's nothing like it which means everywhere else in the camp was ritualistically clean. It was not holy it was clean. Anything outside of the tech courtyard but inside the walls or the boundary in our case was clean.

Now cleanliness did not necessarily mean hygiene but what was pure according to God's standard. And anything unclean remained outside the camp. And again unclean was not sinful. Unclean did not always mean sinful but were things associated with death.

So if someone was sick that was unclean leprosy. If someone just buried their dead relative they were unclean because they just came really close to the contact with the dead body. That was not sinning that was being faithful to one's family.

But they were made unclean. And there was a ritual for purification for that right. So it's important to realize that unclean does not always mean sinful. Sin did make people unclean for sure. But it wasn't always us unclean that meant sinful.

Now we will go in detail of what these ceremonial states ritualistic stat states all meant in much greater depth during Sunday school next week because we're going through Leviticus so that's at 930 a .m. Sunday.

Now the point of these ritualistic states was that the physical phenomena taught them spiritual truth about God. The Holy God is the utterly pure and life-giving God. Nothing unclean may approach God or even reside in the same camp.

It also taught God's people the significance and grandeur of God's pure standards. If the physical categories are so precise and have to be so pure and holy how much more important is the spiritual holiness and spiritual purity.

That was the teaching lesson man. I mean the physical it's degree. It degrades over time. It doesn't last forever. Right. It comes into effect of sin all the time. Yet that all the physical things associated with worshiping the Lord has to be pure and holy.

How much more of me. And when the tabernacle was built it was not possible to mistaken it as anything else than the location of encountering the Holy God. A person would not accidentally walk into that big entrance and said oh I didn't know.

It was a holy place it was. It was a giant structure of the courtyard and the intricate design of the entrance that were impossible to miss. And that's because it set the boundaries for what is holy in the camp.

And although Christians do not enter the tabernacle to meet God the fact that we encounter God's presence in a limited demarcated zone of holiness still remains. The physical ritual of meeting God in a physically holy place has transferred to meeting God in a spiritually holy place.

Just as the tabernacle was physically distinguishable in the camp of Israel the church has to be spiritually distinguishable in the world in her holiness. And for the church the spiritual location of holy worship is the kingdom of Christ.

Or as Paul would say again in Christ you have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into his son's kingdom. The moment you believe that Jesus died for your sin and face the wrath that you deserved you enter into his kingdom.

You no longer belong to the kingdom of darkness kingdom of Satan the world. You don't belong to them. You belong to Christ. And that's how you encounter God. And that's how the church encounters God's presence when we gather.

Unfortunately such a demarcation has been blurred. Many once set apart churches publicly support homosexuality and transgenderism very things that God does not call good the very things God call abominable.

Now this does not mean we turn away these people. We love them. But the most loving thing to do is speak the truth that God requires you to live in a holy manner that because Jesus died for your sin you don't have to live in it.

That's the most loving thing to do. However many of these so-called churches once were faithful have turned aside and are proclaiming the same message as the world. Many once faithful denominations indoctrinate their people in godless ideologies like critical race theory and Marxism just like the secular public school system which is unfortunate because these these ideologies divide up the body of Christ into different races and privileges and into different social status.

And they pit them against each other. But in Christ there is no distinction. A poor person is just as precious in his eyes. In God's eyes as a rich person a white person is just as worthy in God's eyes as a black person.

Yet there are many denominations that are parroting what the world is doing. And Christians are entertained by the same shows and movies as the world. Shows that show nudity shows that celebrate violence shows that dehumanize people and Christians utter the same curse words.

Christians participate in the same filth as the world. Maybe not as publicly or on Sundays but any other days. That demarcation has blurred. However as the construction of the tabernacle has made it clear God's presence among God's people is marked by holiness.

It is only when the church is distinguished in holy holiness different from the world. God's presence is witnessed in the world as it is only when the church is set apart from the world. Christians experience God's presence.

This is why all these uh liberal denominations that accepted the world's theology and doctrines they don't have many people there anymore. Once used to be booming but now it's dwindled because they're not offering something that is different from the world.

Why go there when it's just like the world. And not only that. Christian witness is strengthened when it comes from holiness. You'd be surprised how many people flinch the moment you say yeah I'm a Christian.