Amen. Well, Exodus chapter 35, tail end of 35 and into 36, it's one of the most exciting passages in the whole of Scripture if you're an artist. And everybody in this room will say, oh, I'm not an artist, I don't have a creative bone in my body, and all that stuff that we're sometimes been taught in school. At least if you were in my generation, you were certainly taught that. Art was very much way, way, way down near the bottom of the curriculum. So, we're going to have a look at that whole passage tonight, but before we do, just by way of warm-up and introduction, where is it set? It's set right in the heart of the book of Exodus, and it's set between the beginning and the end of the construction of the tabernacle of God. And if you've got Bibles, and I hope you have, because they're much more interesting than looking at my bald head on that screen there, turn to your Bibles, Exodus chapter 25, and we've got the beginning. And the story here is that Moses has been up the mountain of God, Mount Sinai, and he has revealed himself to Moses, and he's given the Ten Commandments, all the law of God, the wonder and the ways of God for his people Israel. And these Ten Commandments are to be the way in which the people live in relation to him and in relation to one another. But then something very strange happens. God reveals that not just living on the mountain is adequate for him, not just coming down when heaven touching earth, but he wants to live in the heart of the people. And so he introduces to Moses the most amazing thing ever, and that is the concept of building a sanctuary or a tabernacle or a holy tent. In verse 8 of chapter 25, then have them make a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them. make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. So, on an equal par to the revelation of the Ten Commandments comes this revelation of what the tabernacle is to be like. This is the design of God. This is the very creation of God. This is what he has dreamed up, and it's filled with shapes, it's filled with lengths, it's filled with metals, it's filled with wood, it's filled with fabrics of purple and scarlet and blue and gold threads. It's filled with the most amazing and glorious beauty. this is all God's design. This is coming out of the very being of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on the mountain of God. And he is revealing this to his prophet Moses. Now, Moses wouldn't have had a clue about putting together a tabernacle for God. How would he do that? except God revealed every single detail. This is what I want, and this is what you have to command and have done. And so begins this whole revelation, and it goes all the way through—this revelation goes all the way through to chapter 31. And if you turn over to chapter 31, You'll see that both the tabernacle, the contents of it, and the priesthood are all instituted in this section. And then in chapter 31, you've got the people who are going to actually do it. Then the Lord said to Moses, see, I've chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah, and I filled him with the Spirit of God. with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I've appointed a holy ab, and he's going to be the assistant. And so we've got this revelation, not just of the tabernacle, what it's to look like, how big it's to be, what it's to be made of, and all the inside bits, the ark of the covenant, the incense, the table, the bread, the perfumes, the robes of the priests, the whole lot. Not only have we got that, but now we have the provision of God for how it's going to come from heaven in design, through the prophet Moses in instruction, to the craftsman who would actually take the instruction, design it all out, and actually make it. So this is the make-it-happen, boys. These are the people who are hands-on. They're not theoretical people. Now, I happen to be a bit of a contemplative, and people say, oh, but what does it look like? What does it feel like? Tell me how you're going to do it. I find that a struggle. But this is for people who like to see tangible things, expressions of a creative spirit. So that's the revelation. And you may think, well, that's great, but that's not our passage. And you're right, because what happens next is we've got chapter 32. where there is a direct warning in the experience of God's people about the whole creative process. And the warning comes when eyes are taken off God up the mountain with Moses in the cloud, and eyes start wondering and saying, well, where has he gone? Well, let's make something. Let's create something of our own idea. So that spirit of creativity is immediately seen in the beautiful—yes, beautiful—calf made of gold, of all the offerings of the people, all the earrings, necklaces, all melted down and formed into this beautiful calf. And everybody says, Oh, these are our gods who brought us out of Egypt! So you see, there is a direct and dangerous warning here that the creative spirit can operate from the wrong place. And here in chapter 32, it's operating from the wrong place, and it becomes idolatry. And then in 33 and 34, we've got Moses in the tent of meeting, and we've got God saying to him, well, you get going. On you go, lead the people. I'm not coming with you. And Moses is pleased with God, and he says, well, if you're not going, we're not going. And he has this encounter with God, and he says, show me your glory, Lord. And up the mountain, God shows him the back of his glory in the early verses of 34. And then he comes down the mountain from that experience, having interceded for these sinful people in their idolatry of their creativity, and he comes down the mountain, and his face is radiant. He's displaying the very nature and beauty of God, whom he's spending time with up the mountain, and his face is physically radiating. bit like Stephen, his face was radiant when he was being stoned. Moses' face was radiant. The people—oh, no, don't look at us! They had to put a veil over him. He was so bright, so beautiful. And then 35, we've got Moses speaking to the people and actually getting down to business. And he retells what God has told him up the mountain. He retells it in terms of the tabernacle and all its furnishings down the mountain. And then we come to our little passage in 35 verse 30, where the focus is on Bezalel and Oholiab. And then all the instructions for tabernacle, ark, altar of burnt offering, courtyard, priestly garments, ephod, breastplate, all the garments, and so on, these are all carried out. So they're made, they're tangible, they're completed. And so at the end of 39, we've got Moses inspecting the work and seeing all that the people had done, and it was just as the Lord had commanded him. So the operation was complete. And then in 40, we've got the establishing, the putting up of the tent, and the putting in place of all the contents of it. And then the most wonderful point of the whole exercise, what began in God saying, I want to have a tabernacle, and this is what it will be like, now has got to the point where all the bits are lying on the ground, and they're being put together, and everything's been put inside, and then God comes. So what was a creation of man becomes filled with the glory of God. And so at the end of Exodus, we've got this absolutely glorious passage. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, verse 34, and the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah, filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. God had come to dwell. in the midst of his people, in the tabernacle, ordained from before the creation of the world to be his tabernacle in the presence of his people. So, that's the story. And in the middle of that, there are these two men who are singled out. And in a sense, I want to focus mainly upon Bezalel. When Moses was up the mountain, it was God who said, see, I have chosen Bezalel. This was not a volunteer exercise. This was not a sign-up sheet. This was divine ordination. I have ordained," says God, the Glorious One, Yahweh, I have ordained that that man, Bezalel, who is the son of Uri, who's the son of her, he is the man that I want to do this job. Now, in old-fashioned parlance, that is the call of the Spirit, or the call of the kingdom that we sang about earlier. It does not originate in feelings. It does not originate in the human heart. It does not originate in people. It originates in the eternal heart of the Almighty God. But when that call comes, all the glory of God's creating of that individual for that time and that place and that task are fulfilled. And Bezalel, who had grown up as a grandson of her, and remember that her was an assistant to Aaron, Moses' brother, Her was also one of the ones who held up Moses' arms when the battle was on. Her was a man of standing in the community, and it was his grandson who was being singled out. Now, names in Scripture are very, very important, and let's not gloss over it. Bezalel simply means shadow of God, or in shadow of God. Now, that's an interesting one. Me and my shadow. You see, you can only be someone's shadow if you're close to them. You can only be someone's shadow if you're copying exactly what they do. You can only be that shadow if you are in the light. Ironically. So here was Bezalel, this youngish man. We don't know how old he was, but we assume that he's relatively young, and that her was still alive. We assume that he's youngish, but his name, you see, gives a clue to where he positioned himself in his relationship to God. He was a man who was intimate with God, who dwelt in the shadow of the Almighty. And because he dwelt in that shadow, he was able to pick up the very heartbeat of God. He was able to hear the slightest whispers of Almighty God. He knew what it was to see God work and then him do the same. A foreshadow of Jesus himself, of course, who did everything he saw his Father doing. Bezalel, shadow of God. Son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, Ah, that's interesting. Judah means praise. So this man is in the line of praise. That's in his blood, the praise of God, the worship of God. So not only is he in the line of worship and praise and glory to God, but he's also in the shadow of God, in communion with him. And it's in that place of intimacy that a transaction takes place, or an impartation takes place, that this young man who's been formed and shaped in his mother's womb from all eternity is brought into his very standing as a man of God. And that standing takes place when God fills him with God's own Spirit. This is a divine impartation of the Holy Spirit on this young man. And it's very rare to read of the Holy Spirit filling someone in the Old Testament. That comes in the New, It comes for every single one of us, being filled with the Spirit in Christ Jesus. But here, in the Old Testament, this man is singled out, and God fills him with His Spirit. Now, what does that look like? Well, one thing it doesn't look like is it doesn't look like what we often see in God TV, for instance, people who will say they're filled with the Spirit. Here it looks like He can design things. can take a little pad of paper and, oh, yeah, well, I can see how that would… Yeah, yeah, that's fine. What measurements? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, well, decorate it with this and… Yeah, and the pomegranates? Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, it's all coming together now. Oh, yeah, I can see it. And it's a Spirit-given ability to actually see what is in the heart of God and what has been instructed. It becomes a very visual thing. So, Bezalel, in the shadow of God, with the instruction that was given to Moses and had been handed to him—the brief, if you like—the Spirit of God brought the brief to life before him. and enabled him to see exactly what God had in mind. And so he was able to craft the wood, the stone, the fabrics. Oh, he knew how to use a sewing machine. He knew how to knit. Horror of horrors, guys! But this is way beyond gender. You see, what he's been called into is a participation in the very work and desire of God. I want you, Bezalel, to be my craftsmen. to listen to me and hear my inspiring moves of my Spirit in your heart, so that you craft that piece of wood exactly as I want it. What a task! What a holy calling! But it wasn't just to him. He got a helper. and his helper's name was given to us here, Oholiab. Now, interestingly enough, Oholiab means Father's Tent. That's Oholiab's name, Father's Tent or Tabernacle. Methinks that there's some divine conspiracy going on. because Oholiab was formed and shaped in his mother's womb, unique, and at circumcision he was given his name, Oholiab, to grow into Father's tent, Father's tabernacle. And he would become truly the man of God that he was created to be as he received this commission to construct the temple, the tabernacle, the tent of the Father of Israel. Beautiful. And he was called in to participate as well in this glorious creative work. you know what? Both of them. This is what's not told from the Exodus 31 version. What we're told here is that the Spirit of God not only showed them what God wanted, by way of the priest's robe and the stitching and the breastplate and the stones and the order of them and how they were to be cut and the turban of the priest and all those things, not only did they show him, but they were given the gift of teaching other people, other craftspeople. So they were able to go to the Women's Guild sewing brigade and say to them, ladies, we need this done and we need it to look like this. And immediately, by the power of the Spirit, the lady said, ah, we know exactly what to do. And so they got sewing, and they embroidered, and they made beautiful designs, all to the praise and glory of God in response to the teaching and the enabling of Oholiab and Bezalel. There's always room for apprenticing. In whatever sphere you work in, in whatever way a church is run, There is always scope for apprenticing someone to come alongside and learn from you. I have a great passion, and this is a slight aside, if you'll forgive me, but I have a great passion that young people in the Lord should be mentored and be taught and be shaped by older Christians. who have got a life story ahead of them, or behind them, rather, and who've got so much to tell and so many ways of saying, this is how the Lord worked in my life. How is he working in yours? And you see, when you have someone alongside you like that in a learning capacity or in a teaching capacity, the kingdom grows. No one is left thinking, oh, I don't have a place. because everybody does. Everybody can have a place, old and young alike. Those of experience can teach those who haven't got a clue. That's the richness, and that's what's going on here. Bezalel and Ahab teaching. sharing, bringing others in to participate in what they were given to participate in—the glorious construction and creation of the tabernacle according to the design of God revealed to Moses. He has filled them, verse 35, with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen, and weavers, all of them master craftsmen and designers. So, this isn't some tacky little Blue Peter effort. Oh, I'm sorry. My mum does treasure the date box that was made into a pencil case by taking the lid off and covering it inside with sticky-back plastic and other accoutrements. This was not tacky. This was the very, very finest This was beauty such as had never been seen before, even in the beauty and the creativity and the glory of the Egyptian temples. And any of you who have visited the Valley of the Kings or Karnak or any of these places will know that beauty. Far more beautiful than that. because this beauty has divinity in it. This beauty has life in it, which is the Spirit of God. And so, verse 1 of 36, Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord commanded. And that's just what they did. And so, at the end of 40, we've got it complete. And we've got the glory resting where God wants to be, in the heart of His people. Now, what about this business of calling? When I was a young believer, I received a calling. And it wasn't a calling that I wanted, I was sitting in St. George's Tron Church in the center of Glasgow. And I was, any of you who know St. George's Tron, it's similar to this, only not quite as spacious. And I was sitting up in that seat there, right beside the pulpit. Well out of harm's way, I thought. So the word goes forth that way, I mean, it never gets to slightly behind the preacher. However, George Duncan, who was then minister of St. George's Tron, he had the happy knack of punching the air with his finger. He was one of those preachers. And he was able to pirouette as well, because what he did was he was speaking about the preaching of the Word of God. And he did a complete 90-degree turn like that and did one of his punches in the air and said, you never know, you could be God's preacher. And he was pointing directly at me. I was sitting there, what? I was a Christian for three months when that happened. But you see, there's a danger in me even telling you that. because it kind of makes it something special, a preaching calling. It sets the calling of a ministry into a different realm from everybody else. Moses was called to be a prophet preacher. He had to go up the mountain, he had to see God, he had to hear God, and he had to tell what he saw and heard. And that is preaching. But Bezalel did not have that calling. He had the calling to take these things and turn them into reality. And that's an equal calling. There is no gradation of calling in the kingdom of God. And so if you have had that sense of calling from God that you are to be a teacher, then you need to respond to that calling and say, Lord, I have no idea how to teach. I have no idea what the professors and what the teachers at the college are going to teach me. I have no idea whether I'll be a better teacher by the time I've trained. I have no clue at all. But you know what? I believe you're calling me, and I'm going to say yes. And I'm going to ask you to fill me with your Spirit, that I may teach in your power. my subject, because all wisdom and all knowledge and all understanding begins in God himself. And then you'll be a good teacher, because you're teaching not out of your flesh, but you're teaching out of the Spirit within you. Perhaps one of the areas that people joke most about is accountancy. And I have several accountant friends who say what I said at the start, that they've not a creative bone in their body. Well, I can assure you that they have. Anyone who can make sense of a church balance sheet at an AGM is a genius of creativity. Or am I the only one? You see, the calling to do figures is a calling of the Spirit, because there are some things that have to happen in this world. And that happens to be one of them. I worry, you see, when people come to me and I, for some reason or other, I end up spending a lot of time exploring people's callings with them. They come to me and they say, oh, I'm an accountant, or I'm doing this and I'm doing that, but I really feel that God's calling me. And I immediately will say, well, are you sure? Tell me about that. Because often God is not calling them out of something at all. God is calling them deeper into it. He's calling, and He's saying, do it by my Spirit. Take my life into that office. Take my life into that court. Take my life into that lecture theater. Take my life into that work in the shop. Take my life, because I want to be in the heart of the people. I need you to do it." That's the call of the kingdom. Basil's primary call was when God said, I've chosen you. And God has chosen every single one of you tonight. You may not feel that, but that is the truth. He has chosen you as a woman to bear the creative glory and beauty of God. He's chosen you as a man to bear the beauty and glory of God. Every one of us is chosen to bear His glory. That's the call. How it outworks is what's different. to some who are given the gifts of prophecy, to some who are given the gifts of apostles, to some preachers, to some evangelists and some pastors. You see, this is where the whole doctrine of the church comes alive. It comes off the page and starts to live in human flesh, and God comes and dwells right in the midst and his glory is so strong and so palpable and so wonderful that we can barely bear it. God Almighty, through his own Son who became flesh, has come to indwell us by his Spirit. so be His living tabernacle. Not a bunch of curtains. To be His living priesthood, not all dressed up to the nines. To be His fragrance Not that stuff that catches you in the Boots perfume department and nearly kills you, but to have that fragrance of the very Lord of heaven, the fragrance of Christ, as Paul puts it. Do you hear the call? Do you hear who's calling you? Do you hear the Father? Do you hear the Spirit? Do you hear Jesus? I formed you and I've shaped you. Now it's time. It's time. Be my man, be my woman, and bear my glory in what I give you to do, whatever I choose. Let's pray. Lord, we bless you and praise you that as we are here this evening, we are on holy ground. as Moses stood on holy ground on that mountaintop, as Bezalel stood on holy ground as he was commissioned by you. So, we're on holy ground. Your same Spirit is here. Your same glory in Christ Jesus is within us. And so you call, I've chosen. Lord, may we answer like Bezalel in the shadow of your presence. May we answer your call. Help us, Lord. Help us when everything in us almost rebels against you. We're frightened. We don't want to. Holy Spirit, break through all that and bring us to that place of oneness in Christ. doing the will of Him who calls us and who has sent us. As the Father sent me, so send I you. Amen.