Exodus 31 - Bezalel, Talents & Sabbatarianism

Bezalel’s Spirit-Given Skill for the Tabernacle

Let's pray and then we'll get into chapter 31. Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us all out here tonight to worship you, hopefully in spirit and in truth, guide my tongue from error and help us all to glean something from your word that we can apply to our life and be able to help others in understanding your word.

We just pray that in all things, Christ would receive the glory. We pray it in his name. Amen. Amen.

Exodus 31. The Lord spoke to Moses. See, I have called by name,.

Bezalah, the son of Uriah, the son of her, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.

And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholian, the son of Ahizalek, of the tribe of Dan. And I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you.

The tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base, the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister as priests, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place.

According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.

And the Lord spoke to Moses.

Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, surely my Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you, throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed.

And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.

Gifts, Calling, and the Glory of God

Okay, so I know some of you probably, as we're going through Exodus, you read this or you hear it and you think, what relevance does this have to my life, right? Who's thought that? Nobody wants to admit it.

Okay, a couple of you. You'll notice that what I've been trying to do with some of these chapters is to make application to the New Testament church and what it would mean for us. Some of these things don't apply.

Like the Sabbath, we're going to talk about the Sabbath a little more. And it doesn't really apply to us because the Sabbath was not given to us as New Testament Christians to observe. So we're trying to make some application.

And if you think some of these chapters seem a little slow, next week will not be slow. Next week is a very important chapter with the building of the golden calf. So that's very memorable. But Exodus chapter 31 begins, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "'See, I have called by name Bezalel,' or Bezalel, I say Bezalel, "'the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah.

"'And I have filled him with the Spirit of God.'". Notice that, that's important. "'I have filled him with the Spirit of God "'and wisdom and understanding and knowledge "'and in all manner of workmanship, "'to design artistic works, "'to work in gold and silver and bronze "'and cutting jewels for setting and carving wood "'and to work in all manner of workmanship.'".

So Bezalel was given really a supernatural ability. He was already gifted, but God gave him additional wisdom, really a supernatural ability to build the tabernacle. And I believe it's Bezalel who's the first one in all of the Bible that is said to have been filled with the Spirit of God, or as we would say, filled with the Holy Spirit, but that's what it says.

He was filled with the Spirit of God. So I think he was the first one that that said about him. So the first thing that I wanna point out is that when someone is gifted, why does God give this gift? When a person is gifted by God, they are gifted so that they will take that gift and use it, right?

It would have been a shame if anyone else, there were other artisans in Israel, but it would have been a shame for anyone else to have built the tabernacle, because number one, Bezalel and his assistants were gifted to begin with, that's true.

Number two, God gave them this additional knowledge and ability, supernatural knowledge. And then three, God called him by name. So this is the man that I want to build my house. So if somebody else had put it together, that was not quite as gifted, or if he just threw it together haphazardly, it would not have been a fitting house for the Lord.

So anytime God gives someone a gift, he gives them that gift for a specific purpose, to minister it for the glory of God and for the benefit of others. And obviously the children of Israel greatly benefited by having this service done.

And I think people, because we all have gifting, God gives every believer a spiritual gift. So whatever he's given us, he's given it to us so that we would use it. And it's not always kind of the things you think about, like preaching or teaching.

There's all sorts of other gifts. Bezalel was a craftsman, and his job was very, very important. Yes, Larry. Life.

Life is a gift. Absolutely, every life is a gift and should be used to glorify God. Absolutely, very good point.

So I think everybody should be seeking God's grace. Take your natural abilities, whatever you're gifted at, and seek additional empowerment from God. Because I believe he will do that, and we can take whatever we have, whatever gifting, and use it to the best of our ability with God's help.

So a few Sundays ago, I touched on the subject of spiritual gifts. I was thinking of all the sermons I've done, I think that's one of the most consistent things I've preached on throughout the years, because it's just so important for the life of the church, that everyone has a gift, we already know that, that everyone recognize what their gift is, and then use the gift.

So I'm not gonna re-preach what I talked about, but I believe that God can take your gift and bring it to another level. And that's what he did with Bezalel, because it already indicates a few verses later that he was naturally gifted, and then God brings it up a step or two.

So his gift was used primarily for the glory of God and for the benefit of the Israelites. And I just had this thought, because Bezalel, again, he wasn't a preacher, he wasn't a prophet, he wasn't a priest, he was a builder, he was an artist.

And I think what artists, what musicians, what craftsmen throughout history have exercised their gift and ability to the glory of God. Can anyone think of an example of that? We all know the gifted preachers throughout history.

Now, what about some, what? Noah, yeah, I hadn't thought of that. So Noah, he knew what he was doing, building that boat.

Or Nehemiah, with the leadership.

Nehemiah, he had natural leadership ability. Can anyone think maybe of someone post-New Testament, from like the second century until now? People that were not, what? Michelangelo. Michelangelo, okay.

Fanny Crosby. All right, so you have all sorts of different people gifted in different areas, music, painting, architecture, and they all use these gifts for the glory of God. See, that's what the church needs.

Not just preachers and teachers, we need everything. We need people exercising their gifts in every area. So I was thinking a little about this, primarily with music. Some of the greatest music ever written, you think of some of the classical composers, many of them openly said that they did that.

They wrote for the glory of God. So I think it's very possible that some of the greatest composers in history, they were naturally talented. Of course, God gave them that ability to begin with. But is it possible that God gave them additional knowledge and understanding and grace to bring it to a whole other level?

I think that's probably what happened in some of these cases.

Yes? If you think of those composers, Mozart, Bach, they were prodigies. They knew how to play and write music. I forget which one it was. It's four years old, and that carried him through the rest of his life.

And like you said, he did say that he was doing this. He wrote this music for the glory of God. Right.

Well, you can think of someone even like a sports star, and you say, well, that has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. No, but they reached this level where they have a platform to where people look up to them and listen to them, and they can use that for the glory of God.

Barb?

I was just keying in on Jim's conversation there. The Messiah was written in 11 days by him. Yeah. That is like a miracle.

Right. That's pretty amazing, Larry. And Eric Lytle, the runner, I forget what Olympics, but he wouldn't run on Sunday. English fellow? Yeah, he wouldn't run on Sunday, and so he had to change, and he moved up a notch.

And he said that he feels like when he runs, he's pleasing God with God makes him fast. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. He won.

Amen, amen. Janet? Joni Erickson. Yeah? Oh, yeah. Right, even her suffering brings glory to God. So just imagine how the kingdom of God would be advancing if not only every Christian ministered their gift, and that goes without saying, but imagine if the most gifted people in society, instead of seeking secular pursuits, sought to bring God glory and to proclaim the gospel.

I think in some ways, maybe Christians have seemed, maybe we've settled a little bit to think that, okay, the best musicians are secular musicians, the best architects, they're secular, the best of all these different areas, they're all secular, and we kind of get what's left over.

Well, I don't think so. It hasn't been that way historically. It doesn't have to be that way now, and it wasn't that way here in Exodus chapter 31. So Bezalel was supernaturally empowered to build the tabernacle.

All right, one final thing before we move on from this subject. Matthew Henry writes about verses one through 11, the Israelites who had been masons and bricklayers in Egypt were not qualified for curious workmanship, but the spirit who gave the apostles utterance in diverse tongues miraculously gave Bezalel and his assistants the skill that was wanting.

The honor which comes from God is always attended with a work to be done. We talked about that. To be employed for God is high honor, okay? To be employed for God is high honor. Those whom God calls to any service, he will find or make fit for it.

The Lord gives different gifts to different persons and let each mind his proper work, diligently remembering that whatever wisdom anyone possesses, the Lord put it in the heart to do his commandments.

All right, any final questions or comments on this subject before we move on to the Sabbath? Jeff.

I have something here. When a person trusts Jesus Christ for salvation, they are made a member of the body of Christ. We see that in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. For the church body to function properly, all of its body parts need to be present and working.

It's not enough to just attend church. We should be involved in some ministry to others, using the spiritual gifts that God has given us. As a believer, we never reach full maturity without our using those gifts, and we all need the assistance of other believers.

Amen.

Yeah, so whatever it is that you're good at, don't say, well, how can I use this for God? Well, you can figure it out, but you can do it, right? With all the problems we've been having with the video and the audio, I wish that there was someone in the church who was an expert at electronics for the glory of God.

Of course, we do have people, and I think we figured it out, so.

You've been doing a good job at it, Mike.

Well, with some help from others, so. All right, let's move on. The next section, starting in verse 12, is labeled the Sabbath law, the Sabbath law. So the first thing I wanna point out so that we rightly understand this is that there is no commandment anywhere in scripture before Mount Sinai, not talking about right now, but before Mount Sinai, there is no commandment anywhere to observe the Sabbath.

Adam and Eve did not observe the Sabbath. Noah did not observe the Sabbath. Even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, none of them observed the Sabbath. Why is that important? You tell me, why is that important?

Well, because there's people who say the Sabbath is for everybody. It's for all men. It's for every living person should be obeying the Sabbath day. Is that true? Who did God give this commandment to?

To the Jews. Right, to the children of Israel. So the Sabbath is part of the old covenant law given at Mount Sinai. It's very, very clear. Look at verse 12. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak also to who?

The children of Israel. Right, this is why you know the phrase rightly dividing the word of truth or rightly dividing the word of God. Everything maybe is written for us. Profitable for doctrine, for our edification, but not everything is written to us.

So speak also to the children of Israel saying surely my Sabbaths you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

So God is not talking to us as New Testament Christians in the year 2021. Jesus ushered in a new covenant. We're not under the old covenant. So the new covenant church, we are made up a body of Jew and Gentile.

This is just for the Jews or at this point, the children of Israel. We are not under the Mosaic law. So the Sabbath, this is what I firmly believe. This is part of the Mosaic law. We're not under the law.

I mean, if you say we have to obey the Sabbath, okay, what else? Do you eat pork? Do you trim the sides of your beard? I mean, there's a lot of things in the law and this can get really complicated and we're not gonna agree on every little thing, but I do believe the Sabbath was given to Old Testament Israel, not the New Testament church.

However, there are still groups that say we should be observing the Sabbath. Nate, who are some of these groups? Yes, Kathy. Seventh-day Adventist. Seventh-day Adventist. There's some, it's called the Hebrew Roots Movement.

There's some in that group that say we should obey the Sabbath. Even some reformed Christians and some Presbyterians and there's some people in that group who say that there is a Christian Sabbath. And I don't know that this is an issue that I would really wanna fight about, but definitely understand that this is part of the old covenant.

So look at what else it says in verse 14. You shall keep the Sabbath, because if somebody says, hey, you need to keep the Sabbath today because Exodus 31 says so. Let's see what else Exodus 31 says. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you.

Everyone who profanes it shall surely, what? Be put to death. Do you still believe that? No. They shall surely be put to death and whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

So I find it curious that they don't seem to believe that part, that you should obey the Sabbath, but what if somebody skips church or goes in for time and a half on Saturday or Sunday, whatever day they're observing?

Do they really believe that person should be put to death? I have never come across someone who actually believes this whole package. So either this law applies or it doesn't. Either it applies to New Testament believers or it does not.

But there is application, okay? This is still meaningful. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter four. You're already there? Almost. All right. Now, if somebody wants to, Saturday is my day off and I'm not gonna mow the lawn and I'm not gonna do this and that on Sunday, God bless you.

Or Sunday is the day you choose to do no physical labor at all. God bless you. But to impose that in some sort of, as a commandment, we would not support that. And obviously, if you wanted to round people up and stone them to death, that would be a problem too.

But that's the way it was, under the old covenant. All right, Hebrews four, one through 10. This is the application for us because this is written to New Testament Christians. Now they are Jewish, but still they're part of the new covenant.

Hebrews four, one through 10 says, therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

For we who have believed do enter that rest, as he has said, quote, so I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. So who's he talking about? Who's the they? Wanderers. Okay, so this is a quote from Psalm 95, 11.

We don't have time to all turn there, but it's speaking about the Israelites who did not enter into the promised land because of their hardness of heart. So he says, so I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. So the author of Hebrews is using this as a picture of salvation in Christ. Verse four, for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day.

What day is that for us? What's the seventh day? Saturday would be the Sabbath, the seventh day. For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works.

And again, in this place, they shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains that some must enter it and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. Again, he that is God designates a certain day saying in David, in the Psalms, today, after such a long time, as it has been said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

That's also Psalm 95. For if Joshua had given them rest, what did Joshua do for the children of Israel? Brought them into the promised land. Right, he brought them into the promised land. But if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day.

Here's the statement I want you to listen to. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. In other words, there remains a Sabbath for the people of God. So there is a Sabbath. So the question is, what is it?

For there remains therefore a rest for the people of God, for he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. So if I can just simplify this to make this as basic as I can, the rest that remains for the people of God, the rest that remains for us is salvation by faith, not works.

So we don't work our way to heaven, we rest in what Jesus did for us. When we talk about Christ's work, he came to do a work. What was the work that Christ did? The cross. Right, the cross was his work.

He came, he died on the cross for our sins. So as evangelical Christians, we understand we're not working for our salvation. Christ did the work, we're resting in him. So in that sense, Christ is our Sabbath.

Well, there's still the Sabbath. Yeah, Jesus, he is our Sabbath rest. You remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you what?

Rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So that's the rest. That's our Sabbath, resting in the finished work of Christ.

This is why when someone comes in teaching a gospel of, which is not a gospel, but when somebody comes in teaching salvation by works or faith plus works, that's why it's so abhorrent to us because they're saying that the death of Jesus, the work of Jesus on the cross is not enough.

You need to add to it. It's valuable, but you need to do something too. That's a violation of the Sabbath. And what happens to people who violate the Sabbath? They die. But this would be a spiritual death.

If you're preaching a gospel of works, you're breaking the Sabbath spiritually, you'll die spiritually. So there's the application for us. All right, let's go back to Exodus 31. So we do believe in a Sabbath.

It's just not the same as it was 2 ,500 years ago or whatever. Let's see. Moses is, let's see, Abraham is 4 ,000, Moses is 3 ,500. Okay, roughly. Any questions or comments so far? Is all this making sense?

All right. So for the Jews under the old covenant, the Sabbath was a day of rest. They were to cease from their works just as the Lord ceased from his work of creating the heavens and the earth in six days, resting on the seventh day.

Now, in our calendar, we already established this, but in our calendar, the seventh day is what? Sunday. I know we call, wait, what day was it? Saturday. Saturday, yes. The seventh day is Saturday. I know we call Sunday the weekend, but really, if you look on the calendar, Sunday's the first day of the week.

So here's the relevant point for us. In the New Testament, there are no commandments. There is nothing before Mount Sinai, and there's nothing in the New Testament about the church observing the Sabbath day, the Saturday Sabbath.

There's only this commandment in the Old Testament for the children of Israel. Now, there are some today who say that there is a Christian Sabbath. You've heard of this? What's the Christian Sabbath? I would argue there's no such thing.

Right, Sunday. Sunday is often called the Christian Sabbath. If somebody wants, again, if somebody wants to believe that, I'm not against them, I'm not gonna fight about it, but why is Sunday called the Christian Sabbath?

Resurrection Sunday. Right. Right. Well, back in Acts chapter two, it was established that it was the tradition of Jesus.

All right, so the early church met on Sunday, as we call it, the first day of the week. That's true. Acts 20, verse seven, 1 Corinthians 16, verse two, Revelation 1, I believe, calls it the Lord's day.

But the Christian Sabbath, the claim is that the Roman Catholic Church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. That's where this whole concept of the Christian Sabbath, that's why I reject that, because they don't have the authority to do that.

Who's the Lord of the Sabbath? Right, Jesus, the Lord. Only he has the authority to change it. So I would reject the idea that the Roman Church has the ability or the authority to change the Sabbath. They claim they do.

They claim they did. But again, that's another thing I disagree with. So if you've heard the term, the Christian Sabbath, that's a holdover from Rome.

Jim, you had? I was just gonna say, they thought through it completely and they decided that they would do Saturday and Sabbath day too, because you can go as a Catholic to church on Saturdays. Yeah. So you don't have to get up early and go Sunday morning.

Right. And so you can go out party Saturday night and not have to wake up for the church.

There's another thing that I would disagree with, because this stuff is out there, so you might have heard this. Certain reformed groups, they believe that the church is Israel, right? So you as a New Testament Christian, you are spiritual Israel.

And since they say the Sabbath was given to Israel forever, the church is now Israel, we're to obey the Sabbath, which is Sunday. So these are things that I do not believe are scriptural. Again, I'm not gonna make too big of an issue about it, but that's kind of where Morris Corner Church stands on the topic.

Is that clear? Do you understand? Okay. All right, look at Exodus 31, 17, we're almost done. The Lord says, so there is a difference. Israel and the church are not the same thing. Two different covenants.

Exodus 31, verse 17. It is a sign between me, the Lord, and the children of Israel forever. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed.

And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. And we'll get into that whole subject next week, okay?

The Sabbath as Old Covenant Sign and New Covenant Rest

So in conclusion, what's the takeaway for us?

Well, you got something? I just wanted to add that they may have interpreted what it says in what it says. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generation as a perpetual covenant.

So they, well, that's it. I mean, this is what it is, this is what we need to do. Yeah.

So here's what you don't wanna hear me say, because I'm not saying this. I'm not saying, hey, don't take a day off from your labor. I mean, taking a day off is a good thing, you need it. Everyone needs a day off.

So a day of rest is good. Here's another thing I'm not saying. Sunday is just like any other day, do whatever you want. I mean, that's what some people might hear and say, well, there is no Christian Sabbath.

So hey, Sunday is just like any other day. Not saying that, all right? So in conclusion, what should be the takeaway for us? Okay, Sunday is not the Sabbath. That's true. Sunday is what? The Lord's day.

The Lord's day. So for nearly 2000 years, Christians have recognized that Sunday, the first day of the week is when Christians gather with the church. Why do we gather on Sunday morning? Right. Right, but that's when the disciples found the empty tomb early in the morning.

So that's the pattern. It's the Lord's day based on his resurrection, finding the empty tomb in the morning. It's not like a legalistic thing that, hey, if you don't gather, you're supposed to be stoned and cut off from the people.

That's under the law. So this is totally, totally different. So some of you grew up, and even me, I can remember when I was young, Sunday was treated a little differently than it is now. No kid ever had their birthday party on Sunday.

Even the non-Christians, heathen, it didn't matter. Nobody did it. Yeah, and there's still some stores that are closed on Sunday, but yes, a lot of stores were closed. Sports practice, we never had baseball practice, or people didn't have cheerleading practice on Sunday, right, I'm not crazy, everyone remembers this.

So what does that prove? It wasn't that long ago. Sometimes we forget how much things have changed just in the last two years, obviously. Things have changed radically in the last five, six, seven, eight years.

But just, yeah, the more time goes on, the faster the changes, and they keep coming. So you can remember, some of you even further back, where Sunday was treated very, very different. Yeah, maybe in the past, maybe some people went overboard with some of the rules.

I mean, that's possible, but I believe they did it with good intentions to keep the Lord's day holy, right? To honor God, I believe their intentions were good, to honor the Lord. But we live in a time where Sunday is not so much considered the Lord's day, it's considered our day.

This is my day, this is my day off, right?

Yes, Jim. When I got saved 55 years ago, things were different. Any day, people went to church on Sunday morning, then they would go home. A lot of times, the wife, and maybe the husband, or if they had daughters or children that would help, would start preparing the meal before they went to church so that when they came home, the meal would be ready.

And you always wore a suit and a tie. A man never went to church other than a suit and tie, all right? And I can remember very distinctly, when I first got saved, it was a wonderful couple. They had a large family, small house, but they invited me to go down to Sunday dinner after church.

And that was a whole different experience for me. I mean, it was just eye-opening, thinking, wow, this is what they do? Right. So it is different, you know?

And it's not about rules, but it's a reflection of the heart, right? So going back to the beginning, whatever gift you have, whatever you're talented at, minister that gift to the glory of God and to others.

And just about what we've been talking about the last few minutes, it doesn't do any good to sit around and complain how things were so much better back in the day. That does absolutely no good at all, or to, hey, look at all these people not doing this, and that does no good.

But if we have these convictions, then we should live them out. You know, don't try to impose a bunch of rules on everybody else, but if these are convictions that we have, and I have some of these, then we should be faithful to what we believe that God would have us to do.

Set an example. If other people wanna follow along, great. And if not, it's not some legalistic thing. But I believe that we would all be better off if we maybe did things a little more the way they used to be.