FBC Daily Devotional – March 30, 2021

Passion Week and the Coming Resurrection

What a good Tuesday, Tuesday of Passion Week. Looking forward again to this coming weekend. Maundy Thursday, this Thursday evening at 7 o 'clock, we'll be having a service at the church and just reflecting on the events of that night of the Lord's betrayal, and then leading up to the crucifixion, we celebrate or remember the Lord's table in that Maundy Thursday service.

Sing some hymns together and read some scripture together, just a good service of reflection, and then all of this of course is leading up to Resurrection Sunday. But today we're reading back in the Old Testament and in Exodus chapters 37 through 38, reading about the construction of some of these components of the tabernacle and a lot of detail work there, and you can kind of get bogged down in those details, can't you, where you may scratch your head a little bit and say, you know, what does this really have to do with everyday life?

The Holy of Holies and the Tabernacle of Gold

Well, one of the things—there's a lot that could be said about that, and obviously I'm not going to take the time to go into that. It's a fascinating study to see the connections between the elements and components in the tabernacle and their significance and so forth, but what I want to just zero in on is that the Holy of Holies, that central part of the tabernacle structure where the Ark of the Covenant was rusted, and there were a few different items in that Holy of Holy place, and the design of that, the structure of that was in the form of a cube.

All sides were of equal dimension, but everything in that Holy of Holies was covered in gold. Did you notice that? If you read that section in chapter 37, everything was covered in gold. There was the Ark of the Covenant itself covered in gold.

There's also in that in that Holy of Holy place, there's the table of showbread, or it's associated with the Holy of Holies, a table of showbread covered in gold. There's the golden lampstand that had to give light in the Holy of Holies, and it was made of gold.

Also right there at the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense, again, covered in gold. There was a tremendous amount of gold used in the building of this tabernacle structure, and especially in that Holy of Holies, that place where the high priest could only enter once a year, and he would offer on that altar, the Ark of the Covenant would offer there the Day of Atonement sacrifice, one time a year, that's it.

And the emphasis of that, by the way, is to express the distance because of sin and the unapproachability because of sin between man and God, and how we need a priest, we need a high priest. Well, that high priest, of course, is fulfilled in Jesus as our high priest, who tore the veil down and allows us to have immediate access into the very presence of God.

The Glory and Value of God's Dwelling Place

But all that gold, all that gold, and I think it speaks of a couple of different things. One, of course, is just the immense glory of God. I don't think we can fathom what that room must have looked like.

Eventually, of course, the tabernacle became a solid temple, and everything in the building of the temple was modeled after the tabernacle in terms of the gold covering of everything. I don't think we can imagine the splendor of that place, and why so?

Well, because the Holy of Holies is where, figuratively speaking at least, God dwelt and met with his people. That was the seating place of God. The Ark of the Covenant is also called the Mercy Seat. It was a place of God's dwelling with his people.

And so it's only fitting that glory and splendor should surround that place. But it also speaks of the immense value of our God, all that gold. Chapter 38, verse 24, tells us that the total weight of that gold came in at 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold.

Well, that doesn't mean a whole lot to us, does it, when we measure in ounces and pounds? But here's what it amounts to. It amounts to about 2 ,200 pounds. 2 ,200 pounds. Now, best as I could figure, and I'm not claiming this to be exact by any stretch of the imagination, but the best I could figure, based on how much gold is worth per ounce, per troy ounce, and I know there's a difference between troy ounce and regular ounce and all that stuff, but anyway, just best I could figure, you're talking about $50 million worth of gold.

2 ,200 pounds. Now, if I'm wrong about that, that's fine. You can send me the correct details about it. But what's indisputable is that's a lot of gold, and that's worth a lot of money. And that immense value is what is being emphasized here, along with the incredible glory of the one who dwells in that holy of holy place.

The New Jerusalem as the Bride of Christ

Now, here's an interesting thing. We just saw in our Sunday morning service a week ago that the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is representative of the Bride of Christ, and one of the outstanding features of the New Jerusalem is the prevalence of gold.

Another outstanding feature is the shape of the New Jerusalem. It's described as being 12 ,000 furlongs long, wide, and high. It's a cube. It's a cube that corresponds to like 1 ,500 miles. 1 ,500 miles long, wide, high.

A cube. So that New Jerusalem is also the place, Revelation 21 tells us, where God dwells with his people. It corresponds to the holy of holies here in Exodus chapter 37 and 38. And so one of the things that's outstanding about that is that in the holy of holies, in that Old Testament tabernacle, nobody was allowed to go in there but the high priest once a year and partake of and enjoy the splendor of that room.

Nobody else could do that. But in the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ will dwell personally and see personally face to face her God and dwell with him for all eternity in the midst of all of that splendor.

What a wonderful prospect and hope for the people of God, those who comprise his Bride. So if that's you, if you're part of the Bride of Christ, if you have come to faith in Jesus and you've trusted him for your soul's salvation, you're part of his Bride, which is the church, and he has for you a wonderful, glorious destiny dwelling with him for all eternity in his very presence, surrounded by magnificent splendor that can only be described as being like the glory of the golden-crusted furnishings and walls and everything else of the Old Testament tabernacle, holy of holies.

Prayer for the Bride of Christ

What a prospect for God's people. Our Father and our God, we do thank you today for what lies before us as the Bride of Christ, and I pray as we contemplate just the preponderance of gold in that holy of holies, the splendor and the value of it all, that it would point us to our eternal destiny as followers of Jesus.

Thank you for what lies ahead for the Bride of Christ. Bless these thoughts now to our hearts today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well have a good rest of your Tuesday, and I trust God will bless you in it.

Good day.