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Last week we finished off the Ten Commandments in our series on the Pentateuch. Following the Ten Commandments in the book of Exodus is a list of 42 laws that expand on the Ten Commandments. These laws give examples of how to handle different scenarios as they relate to one another, to outsiders, and to God.
We get to chapter 24, in which the Israelites confirm that they do indeed want to enter into this covenant with Yahweh. As we read in 24:9-11, Moses, Aaron and a group of elders went halfway up the mountain and caught a glimpse of God. Verse 10 says, “[they] saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.” They enjoyed a meal together in that place and then Moses went up to meet with God at the top of the mountain.
Exodus 24:15-18 – When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Today’s message is about God’s presence with his people. We will learn how God made it possible for him to live among sinful humans in ancient Israel. Then, we will learn how God is present with the church. We will end by looking at how God and humans will be fully united for all eternity in the New Creation. These are all related through the word tabernacle, which essentially means dwelling. It is an intimate word. In Exodus 25:8, God tells Moses, “have the [Israelites] make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.”
God wants to be with his people, so he makes a way to live with them through the Tabernacle sanctuary in the middle of the Israelite camp, through Christ in the church, and as an unhindered presence in the New Creation for all eternity.
God with the Israelites
Let’s begin by going back to Jacob. Remember in Genesis 28, Jacob’s vision of the stairway? Verse 12 says, “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” Then in verses 16-17, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’”
In my message on this passage, I explained how the ancient people believed that certain places contained a portal to the heavens. These portals were access points for mortals and gods to connect with one another. We also looked at John 1:51, where Jesus says, ”Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” Which is a direct reference to Jacob’s dream.
Jacob saw that the place where he had the dream was a special place where he could meet with God. But, it was never God’s intention for people to only meet with him in one special place. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:21, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.”
Let’s go back to Exodus. The Israelite elders are up on the mountain and they see a portal into heaven and get a glimpse of God. It says, under God’s feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. The ancient people believed that the earth was flat and covered by a dome. Those portals I spoke about would appear sometimes to people, which were basically an opening in the dome above the earth. We can read bits and pieces about this all over Scripture. A fascinating one which connects to the Exodus passage is in Ezekiel.
In Ezekiel chapter one, we read about a vision that Ezekiel had. Verse one says, “the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.” And then in 1:25 and 28: “Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man… This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”
I say all of this to try and bring our imaginations into focus. It’s really helpful to imagine Moses up on that mountain, a special place in which God has appeared more than once. God is meeting the people where they are at. They believe in these special places where portals could open up. So, God says, okay I’ll meet you at a special place and I’ll open up a portal for you. I’ll give you a glimpse into heaven. But, the purpose of showing you this is not so that you can stay here and have a mediator like Moses be your only access to heaven and to my throne. The purpose is to give you a blueprint of a sanctuary so that my presence can be with you wherever you go. The portal to my throne can be opened up whenever and wherever this sanctuary is set up. It is a portable dwelling place of God.
All the instructions in Exodus which tell the Israelites how to construct this sanctuary, the Tabernacle, are there so that they make the right sort of sanctuary. All of the Israelites are living in tents. God will also live in a tent with them. But it will be a royal tent. A tent fit for a king. But, we must keep in mind that the Tabernacle is only a shadow, a copy, of the heavenly sanctuary in which God lives. It is not meant to be the permanent dwelling place of God, but only a temporary one. The permanent one is yet to come, which we will look at briefly at the end of the message.
In Exodus 25-31, we can read all of the instructions for how to build the sanctuary and also how to operate it. Every detail is there so that they can successfully set up and operate an earthly dwelling place for Yahweh. These instructions include things like the daily lighting of the lamp stand, the burning of incense, and placing fresh bread on a table inside the Holy Place. If you would walk by the tent of a fellow Israelite and see the light of a lamp burning, smell the scent of incense burning, and see fresh bread on the table, you would know that someone is home in that tent. God wanted people to know that he was living there among them, and that the Tabernacle was his home.
It takes 40 days and nights for God to give the detailed instructions of the Tabernacle pattern, or blueprint, to Moses. The Israelites were getting impatient and didn’t know if Moses would ever come back. In the meantime, they needed to know what to do next. So, they got Aaron to make them a god, exactly what they just agreed they would not do, according to Yahweh’s instructions.
Now, I have a bit of sympathy for the Israelites. They just agreed to a covenant with God. This covenant stated that Yahweh would be their God and go before them, and the people would worship only him and obey all his laws. Now, after over a month of waiting, they are thinking that this God has given up on them. Don’t we do the same thing? We make a deal with God and then when he doesn’t seem to answer, we just do it our own way. God’s timing is not like ours. If we are truly committed to God’s way, we must be patient.
In Exodus 32-34, we read about how Moses interceded for the Israelites and God forgave them for turning their worship and trust to a false god. Then, we come to chapter 35 in which the actual construction of the Tabernacle begins. Once the Tabernacle is complete, we read at the end of chapter 40 – “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”
The Holy Place, which is inside the Tabernacle court, now becomes God’s earthly sanctuary. This is a sacred place in which none can enter unless invited by God and purified. The mediation between God and Israel is no longer Moses, but is now taken over by the priests, who go through a whole cleansing ritual in order to go into God’s Holy Place in the Tabernacle. This is to keep the Tabernacle as a sacred place in which God will continuously dwell in the middle of the Israelite camp.
Exodus 40:12-15 – “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.”
Leviticus 16:3-5 – “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.”
We can see the progression of how God became present with people. We started in the Garden of Eden, where a sinless Adam and Eve enjoyed walking through the garden with God, unhindered. Eden represents the Most Holy Place. They had free access to God. Then, sin separated humans and God. Humans stepped outside of the most holy place by trusting their own judgment instead of God’s instruction.
Over time, God revealed himself to people. Abram, with whom God initiated the plan to establish a nation to occupy the land of Canaan. Jacob, who saw a portal open up in the Bethel, in the land of Canaan. Moses, in the form of a burning bush and then to all of Israel at mount Sinai. But, God did not want to be present only in special places or to certain people.
So, God made his dwelling place in a tent with the Israelites in the form of the Tabernacle and then eventually in the Jerusalem temple. But, this still wasn’t enough. Jerusalem was once again a specific location. God is not interested in limiting his presence to one location. He is present in all Creation, but our sin still hinders our ability to meet with him.
While Israel is blessed to have the presence of Yahweh living among them in a tent just like them, there is still barrier between them and God. He is with them, but only through priestly mediation. This takes us to Hebrews chapters nine and ten, where we will learn how this barrier has been removed by Jesus of Nazareth.
God with the Church
I will read several passages from Hebrews nine and ten. You can follow along in your Bible or on the screen. Keep in mind as I read this that the earthly Tabernacle constructed by the Israelites was only a temporary copy, or shadow, of God’s heavenly sanctuary.
9:1-4 – Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant.
9:6–7 – When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
9:11–12 – But 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, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
9:15 – For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
10:1 – The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
10:12–14 – But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
10:19–22 – 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 opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
As I have mentioned before, we will look more closely at these passages in the fall when we go through the book of Hebrews. I keep bringing Hebrews into these messages because it is important to see the connection from the perspective of the Old Testament just as the early Christians would have. They were analyzing Jesus from the lens of the Pentateuch and the rest of the Old Testament.
Hebrews provides us with a summary of all the ways in which Jesus fulfills all of the requirements set out in Exodus and the rest of the instructions in the Pentateuch. The shadow of the heavenly dwelling place of God takes on flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. As Eugene Peterson paraphrases John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.
Through Jesus, God has made his dwelling place among us and moved into the world as a human. All of the ways the Tabernacle served to bring forgiveness, reconciliation, guidance, and direction are now happening through Jesus Christ and available to anyone who calls upon him.
But, this is not the end of God with us. We are living in the in-between. Our current situation is still but a foggy and incomplete experience of the presence of God. Let’s turn to Revelation 21 to see what is really meant to be our experience of God with us.
God with the New Creation
When Moses was up on the mountain with God, he was given a vision of the dwelling place of God. Some have called this vision the apocalypse of Moses. Apocalypse means uncovering. God revealed to Moses a vision of the heavenly realm. In Exodus 25:8-9, God says, “have 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.”
Listen to the words of Revelation 21, which is within the apocalypse of John. He is being shown a vision of the heavenly realm, just as Moses was.
Revelation 21:1-3 – Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And 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. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
I believe that Moses was shown this dwelling place as well and that is what the Tabernacle was modelled after. The earthly tabernacle, and then the Jerusalem temple after it, were a copy of what exists in heaven. In Revelation 21, we read about how this dwelling place, the Holy City, is going to come to earth not as a copy or a shadow, but physically. The real, eternal, permanent dwelling place of God is going to come to earth. Heaven and earth will be united permanently.
Revelation 21:22-23 – I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
This vision was given to John as an encouragement to the churches. Just as the Israelites wondered about the delay of the return of Moses from the mountain, the churches were wondering about the delay of the return of Jesus from the heavens. God gives this vision to John so that the churches will not turn away and worship other gods, or give up on waiting for the return of Jesus. Moses was up on the mountain, gathering what was needed to construct an earthly dwelling place of God. Jesus is in heaven, preparing the eternal dwelling place of God, not made by human hands, but constructed by God himself so that we can have his presence with us for all eternity.
While we wait, we remind ourselves. We retell the stories. We tell our children, our neighbours, and one another about Jesus who gives meaning and hope in our lives. And we come to this table, which we call communion. The bread reminding us of the sacrifice Jesus made by dying on the cross. The cup reminding us of the promise God has made to be with us, a new covenant through the shed blood of Jesus.
References
The Bible Project Podcast: bibleproject.com/podcast/series/exodus-scroll
Pentateuch Series Bibliography
Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Fourth Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.
Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Averbeck, Richard E. The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022.
Brueggemann, Walter. Preaching from the Old Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019.
Glanville, Mark. Freed to Be God’s Family: The Book of Exodus. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2021.
Longman III, Tremper. Genesis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.
Lynch, Matthew J. Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.
Provan, Iain, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III. A Biblical History of Israel. Second Edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.
Smith, James E. The Torah. 2nd ed. Old Testament Survey Series. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1993.
Walton, John H and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.