Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus again. Exodus chapter 24. We're gonna read verses one and two and then nine through 18. Exodus chapter 24 beginning at verse one. This is God's word. Then the Lord said to Moses, come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him. Down to verse 12, excuse me, verse nine. Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel went up. And they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld God and ate and drank. The Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there that I may give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction. So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua and Moses went up into the mountain of God and he said to the elders, wait here for us until we return to you. Behold, Aaron and her are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them. Then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel and Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. Let's pray. Our father, we are so grateful that you have given us your word. We would know nothing of you had you not spoken to us. We would be left in darkness and utter ignorance, groping around trying to find a God who is not far from us but who is near to us but whom we could not discern and could not know. We were a people who lived in a land of darkness and under the shadow of death. And yet you shone on us. Your light dawned upon us so that we can know you truly. Not fully, for no man can fully know the God who is beyond measure, whose glory extends beyond the limits of the heavens. and whose wisdom is as high and higher than the heavens are above the earth. And yet we can know you truly because you have become like us. You have dwelt among us and we beheld your glory glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. So, our Father, reveal yourself to us again today. Show us again your great desire for us that we might know you better and love you more. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. As you read through the book of Exodus, there comes a point where you just forget how incredible this whole thing is. Especially if you've known the story, if you've read the story for any amount of time as a Christian, if you've been in church, you know the story of the Exodus and it all makes sense, it all fits in perfectly in this development of the redemptive history of God's plan in the world. You know where it fits and you know how it's been surpassed by the new covenant and it's just kind of old news. But for those who were here living through this event, Sinai has absolutely shattered all of the norms of the world. Not since Eden has God appeared visibly in glory. Not to this many people God appearing in a way that smashes the gods of the nations and establishes a new kingdom brought out under his direct rule that's never happened before. In 3,000 years of creation history to this point, God has only acted in undeniable judgment four times. First, in expelling Adam and Eve from the garden. Second, when he flooded the earth, when he confused languages and scattered the peoples, and when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. In 3,000 years, those are the only four times that the world could look and say, whoa, God is really moving right now. God's deliverances hitherto have been on a small scale. He saves Noah and his family from the flood with the animals. He saves Lot and his daughters out of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even the family with whom he covenanted has never experienced the earth-shaking visible presence of God. God visited Abraham, he never lived with him. And even when he visited Abraham, he had visited him in human form so that when he appears to Abraham, Abraham sees him as a man and can feed him. God eats while Abraham stands as a servant. Abraham does not eat with God. He's God's friend, but God rarely visits. Just a few times in 60 years. But that, As you've heard me say many times before and you will hear me say many times again, that is exactly what we were made for. We were made to live with God. When Adam brought exile from God on all of his descendants, it shattered the world. More than just a fracture, a hairline fracture that you can see on an x-ray but you can't really see anywhere else, this shattered it. Communion with God is broken, communion with men between men is broken, husbands and wives broken, parents and children broken, nations broken, the world is ruined because we do not live with God anymore. And part of the reason our world is so pained is because we know what we were made for. and we long for it. Every time a society or an individual runs to a broken cistern that doesn't hold water what they are expressing by that action is their longing for the fount of living waters but they don't know how to get it. The question that runs through the entirety of scripture, how will God restore us to his presence? We cannot bring God down to live with us, God has to make that way. And at this point in Exodus chapter 25, God has been visibly active for over a year. From the time Moses on the run from Egypt meets God at a burning bush, a bush that burns but is not consumed, that is very significant for Israel's history and for Moses' own life. God has been commissioning Moses to devastate Egypt, to part the Red Sea, to give water from the rock, to call down bread from heaven and fire from heaven. God has been active in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, leading Israel through the wilderness. He's been visibly present to his people and to the whole world. Fascinating to think, isn't it, when the Amalekites attack Israel, they can see the cloud over the camp and they still attack. That's nuts. All of this, the entirety, of Exodus, the entirety of the Pentateuch, the entirety of the Bible shows us this unsearchable glory. God wants to dwell with you. He wants to dwell with you. This is the first time ever for more than a few people to see God at the same time. God tells Moses, I want you to call up Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders. Now you remember, back in Exodus chapter 19, God had told Moses, Moses, I want you to set up a fence around the mountain so that nobody even touches it. Not just that they shouldn't climb the mountain, they should not even touch the mountain. If anybody touches the mountain, they shall be killed. And now, he tells Moses, Moses, I want you to open the gate and let 73 men through. 73, that's a lot. And I want you to bring them up with you onto the mountain, not all the way up, only Moses has the right to go all the way up, but I want you to bring them partway up the mountain to a holy place, midway up the mountain so that they can see the God of Israel. Notice this description, chapter 24, verse 10, there was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And some commentators look at that and they're like, well, see what that means is they're all spending their whole time like this, flat on the ground and all they can do is barely lift up their eyes and they see his feet and they see the pavement and that's it. And I don't think that's what's going on here because they sit down and they eat and drink. It's awfully hard to sit down and eat and drink when you're flat on your face. I think what's going on here is they've come halfway up the mountain and they're looking up through the pavement and they see God's feet. And that's all they can see. Because for a man to see the face of God is for that man to die. But they see his feet. Now what does that tell us about the way God manifests himself here? He appears in human form. In the burning glory of the mountain God's visible presence is not just fire and cloud, God's visible presence is a man who is like no man you've ever seen. They saw probably something very similar to what Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6, I was in the temple when King Uzziah died and I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, the train of His robe filled the temple with glory and around Him there's these seraphim, six wings, two they cover their face, two they cover their feet, two they fly and they're constantly shouting, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. Probably similar to what Ezekiel saw, I saw a throne flying over the earth and carried about by wheels within wheels and there were spirits in the wheels and on the throne there was one, he looked like a son of man but he sure wasn't. My goodness, he looked like flaming bronze, burnished and yet on fire. And the glory was such that Ezekiel collapsed on the ground. They saw the God of Israel and he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They saw him and they lived. That's amazing. Absolutely amazing. And not only do they see God and live, but they ate and drank. To eat with someone is a very significant act. When God appears to Abraham, in Genesis chapter 18. After he's had Ishmael and all this stuff with Hagar, God appears to Abraham and says, Abraham, I'm going to give you a son through Sarah. It's going to come through Sarah. And Abraham's like, well, that's crazy. And God says, no, it's actually going to happen. I'm going to give you a son through Sarah. Before he gives him that promise though, Abraham sees God and two angels walking towards him. They look like men. Abraham runs out to meet them, gathers his robe, runs out to meet them and says, hey, come have lunch. I want to feed you. Come to my tent, sit down, and I will feed you. Abraham at some point picks up, I don't know where exactly he picks up on it that he's speaking to God, but at some point he picks up that he's speaking to God. He makes them lunch, more than lunch, he makes them a feast. He slaughters a whole cow for them and makes them basically like 16 gallons worth of bread, lots and lots of food. Feeds them, they drink, but Abraham doesn't sit down with God to eat, he stands up as a servant. Here, when these men come into the presence of God, they don't stand as servants, they get to eat and drink in God's presence. God has welcomed them into his presence for fellowship. To eat with him. It's remarkable. Mount Sinai is divided into three levels of holiness. You have the plain at the foot of the mountain where Israel is encamped. From the foot of the mountain to partway up the mountain you have a holy space where only certain people can go and at the top of the mountain you have the holiest space where only Moses can go and only by invitation from God. God is going to give Israel these instructions, these blueprints through Moses to set up a mobile Sinai. so that they can take Mount Sinai with them wherever they go in three sections of holiness, the courtyard where anybody can enter, the holy place where only the priests can go, and the holiest place where only the high priest can go once a year by invitation from God. The tabernacle is a mobile Sinai. God gives it to them because he wants them to dwell with him. He wants to dwell with them. The big question is, are we willing to dwell with God on God's terms? God is not like a sorority frat house kind of thing where just anything goes. You can throw mud on the walls and you can burst balloons and leave the fragments everywhere and frat houses are renowned for their party atmosphere. If you're going to dwell with God, you're going to dwell with God on God's terms. He says to Moses, verse chapter 25, tell the people of Israel to take up for me a contribution. For every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive this contribution. And this is the contribution you'll receive from them. Gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine twisted linen, goat's hair, tanned ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, onyx stones, stones for setting, and for the ephod, and for the breast piece. and let them make for me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it." And four times the Lord tells Moses, between Exodus 25 and Exodus 30, four times he says, you shall make it exactly as I show you on the mountain. You guys are gonna build me a house so that I can live with you, and the house you're gonna build me is a mobile house, it's a tent, so that I can go with you wherever you are, but you are to build it according to my terms, not according to yours. I'm gonna give you the dimensions, I'm gonna tell you what materials to use, and the materials are going to be provided by you. The tabernacle, in other words, is crowdfunded. God starts a Kickstarter campaign. gold, silver, bronze, all of this stuff. You're like, wait, wait, how on earth is Israel supposed to get gold, silver, bronze, fine linen, and goat's hair, and oil, I mean, goat's hair, I can understand, they're, you know, nomads, but purple, and blue, and scarlet yarn, and twined linen, and oil, and where are they supposed to get all that? Well, remember, Israel has plundered Egypt. They are a walking treasury. Everybody is wealthy in Israel. There is no poor people in Israel at this point. God says, I want you to build me a tabernacle exactly according to my pattern. That's the first term. It must be according to my design. You pop over to Exodus chapter 31, verse 12, God gives the second condition. The Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel. Notice that this sandwiches the instructions for the tabernacle. So his first condition is the tabernacle has to be built exactly according to my design. The other condition is you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths. For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death, he says that three times. This is a sign between me and the people of Israel, verse 17, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Now you may say, well what does that have to do with the tabernacle? God is saying I want you to build the tabernacle on my terms and I want you to live with you on my terms. Six days, we're gonna work. The seventh day, all of us rest. All of us. People, the animals, husbands, wives, children, servants, everybody rests on that seventh day. The Sabbath is the mark of Israel's being set apart to God. They join God in his rest. God says those are the two conditions. You have to build my house exactly as I design it, and when I tell you to rest with me, you have to rest with me. When I tell you to come in and sit down, you are to come in and sit down rather than continuing to work outside. When I ask you to come fellowship with me around a meal, you are to come and fellowship with me around the meal, not walk away from me ignoring my command. You're to dwell with me on my terms. God wants to dwell with us, the question is are we willing to dwell with God on God's terms, that requires sacrifice. We have to give things up to live with God, we have to give up sin, we have to give up selfishness. seeking our own way or having our own way. We have to give up our own wisdom, our own strength, our own goodness. We have to be willing to live with God according to God's design, not our own. Israel gets all of these instructions from God. Moses comes down, he's like, all right guys, here's what we're gonna do. Here's the blueprint. Do we have all the materials? And they're like, you know what? I don't like that blueprint. I think we need to make something else. God's like, okay, I'm outta here. You know how I know that? Because that's exactly what happened. Moses is up on the mountain talking with God, getting the instructions for God's house, meanwhile Aaron who is in charge of Israel down at the bottom of the mountain is building a golden calf. And when Moses comes down and realizes what's been going on and rebukes Aaron and the nation goes back up to God and God says, Moses, You guys can have the promised land, I ain't going with you. You did not live with me on my terms. We'll talk about that more when we get to the golden calf. But God has made a way to dwell with us, the tabernacle Guys, the tabernacle richly repays the time that you spend looking at the blueprints. And those of you who aren't really blueprint-minded may be thinking, well, I can't really visualize it. And that's okay. The purpose of the literary blueprints is not so that preachers can practice their creativity trying to figure out how 50 loops of silver corresponds to the New Covenant. The reason God gives these extensive literary blueprints is so that any Israelite and any person can know exactly what the tabernacle looks like on the inside. These blueprints are so precise that you can actually build a precise reconstruction of the tabernacle and people have. using the same materials. And you can find pictures on the internet, you can watch YouTube videos, virtual tours of the tabernacle. That's why God gives this, it's so that people can have a virtual tour of the tabernacle and what goes on inside. There are no mystery rites in the worship of God. And there's no mystery rooms in God's temple. Pagan temples, there's mystery rooms. You're walking by, you're like, what's in there? You're not allowed to know, that's for the priests. Oh, okay. What do you guys do on Wednesday nights? You're all here, you're hanging out Wednesday nights, what are you doing? That's for the priests to know, you don't get to know. Every aspect, that's why the book of Leviticus is also so thorough, every aspect of the worship of God is laid out in print so that everybody can know exactly what goes on in the tabernacle and why. It's a literary tour of the tabernacle. And we're not going to walk all the way through this literary tour, we don't have time. Suffice it to say, it's a beautiful tent. It's a very, very nice tent, but it is still, at the end of the day, a tent. It's something that you set up and then when it's time to go, you pack it up, you put it in boxes, you carry it on carts, some of it in the boxes, the special things you carry on your shoulders. The dimensions of it are given in chapter 27, verse 18, roughly 150 by 75 feet. Not huge. Not huge, that's the whole courtyard by the way, not the tent itself, that's the whole courtyard. Not a huge building, it doesn't have to be huge because God is both so big that he cannot be contained within the entirety of creation, let alone just a little room, but also God is so near that he can dwell with his people in a prison cell six by six. He doesn't need a massive temple. God gives Moses these instructions to follow exactly because first that's part of the terms, I want you to build the house for me, it's my house so build it the way I want it to be, but also because the author of Hebrews says it's a copy of the heavenly temple. Now you can get into some weird stuff here and there are some churches that have gotten into some weird stuff here, symbolism and theology drawn out of this, but the broad contours are true, the heavenly temple is represented in the tabernacle in the earthly temple. We get a glimpse of the heavenly temple in Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4 and 5, and other passages. There's a throne surrounded by cherubim. In the tabernacle there's a mercy seat covered by cherubim. The Ark of the Covenant is called God's footstool in 1 Chronicles 28, verse 2, but it's also in other places called God's throne. You have seven burning torches in the presence of God, Revelation chapter four, representing the spirit of God, corresponding also to the seven-branched menorah, giant bathtub. That was what was built in the tabernacle. You had this laver, it's sometimes called, a very large six-foot circumference bathtub for the priests. You have a lamb standing in heaven as if slain, yet alive, having already offered his own blood in the very presence of God on behalf of his people in the tabernacle. You have lambs slain, not alive. There are offerings of incense in heaven, the prayers of the saints just as there are offerings of incense in the tabernacle. There's an altar in heaven under which the souls of the saints rest just as there's altars in the tabernacle. Even the Ark of the Covenant is there in Revelation chapter 11 verse 19. The tabernacle is representative not just of a mobile Sinai but of a mobile throne room. God is giving to Israel a representation of the fact that his presence moves with them in the most powerful and effective way that it could at that time in history. His throne goes with them wherever they go. So that to oppose Israel, as Amalek did, is not just to oppose a people, but to oppose the very throne of God. That's why Moses, when he gives the praise to God after Amalek, he says, a hand upon the throne of God. The throne goes with them. And the entirety of the goal of the tabernacle, we're not gonna, again, we're not gonna get into all of these little things. I wanna point out to you the purpose statements. Exodus chapter 25, verse eight. Why does God want a sanctuary? Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Verse 22 of chapter 25. There I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim on the ark of the testimony I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. Exodus chapter 30 verse 6. You shall put this altar of incense in front of the veil above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you, verse 36 of chapter 30. You shall beat some of these spices very small and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. Back to chapter 29, verse 42. There will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord where I will meet with you to speak with you there. By the way, if you're reading through Exodus anytime next year, you're doing your annual Bible reading or anytime that you're reading through the book of Exodus and you're trying to figure out how can I keep my attention engaged in all of this section about the tabernacle instructions and the tabernacle construction, underline every time it says before the Lord. before the Lord. You'll be surprised how often it appears. And the reason it appears so often is because God is driving home to Israel this point, everything that happens in the camp and in the tent happens with me. I'm right there with you. Verse 43 of chapter 29, there I will meet with the people of Israel. It shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel. I will be their God and they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. See here's what we often say about the purpose of the Exodus, God brought them out of Egypt so he could bring them into Canaan, is that true? Yes, that's true, God brought them out of Egypt so he could bring them into the promised land but that is not the primary reason. The primary reason God brought them out of Egypt is so that he could dwell with them and so that they could dwell with him. I am the Lord their God. So Israel is given this instruction, these blueprints for the tabernacle because the goal toward which all of creation and time is bending is that man made in God's image would dwell with God in his own household extending dominion and joy and beauty and glory throughout the cosmos, that is God's intention. Now we know that's not how it worked out, we're going to talk about that next week. Israel has been redeemed by God and created as a new people in covenant with God, they are his own treasure, he says in Exodus chapter 19, you are my treasured possession out of all peoples on earth, you are precious to me. And having received his laws for life in his house they are now offered God's own presence to go among them in a tent like theirs. But Israel ultimately fails. They're overwhelmed by the enticing pull of temptation, the people of God entrusted with the oracles of God and the tent of God, God's tent. They lose it. You see, the restoration of fellowship between God and man needs more than God in a tent. It requires God on a tree, if man is to have fellowship with God it needs more than the blood of lambs and goats, it requires the blood of the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Sprinkled not on a mercy seat of gold in Sinai but on heaven's throne itself. The tabernacle was designed with planned obsolescence, it was not intended to be permanent, tents never are. God gives Israel a tent to show them by the impermanence of the tent that something better is coming, something permanent. The greater priest of a better covenant enacted on better promises. in whom the whole fullness of God dwells bodily. You see, guys, the way to dwell with God is not to build a beautiful tent or a beautiful building and ask God to fill it. The way to dwell with God is for the Father to come dwell within us by his spirit for the sake of his son. And ultimately, in the restoration of all things, that will only pull us into the very presence of God where we will look on his face and see him as he is and be made like him. And we hear a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. God wants to dwell with you. and he has made a way for you to dwell with him. Are you willing to dwell with him on his terms? All you need do is ask forgiveness. Jesus, forgive me for I have sinned. And he will. And he will come to you. And he says, my father and I will come to you and we will make our dwelling with you. There's no greater gift. There's no greater joy. Let's pray. Our God, we want to live with you. We are enthralled with you. One so merciful and so gracious and so kind and so good and so strong. as to deliver us from our sin and from the death that hung over our heads rightly and to draw us into your very presence as your own children. There is none like you in heaven or on earth, a God who forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, a God who dwells with men and cleanses them and glorifies them. Our Father, we love you. Our Jesus, we love you. Spirit of Christ, we are so grateful to you. For you bring into our hearts and lives this fellowship that we enjoy with the Father and his Son. You bring it and make it real to us. And yet, our God, we want more. We wanna see you with our own eyes. to sit and feast at your table. So come Lord Jesus. And welcome all your people. Throughout the entire world, welcome us into your kingdom. Bring an end to the suffering of your people. Bring an end to the slanders that are raised against your saints. God is not with them. Prove it, Lord Jesus, that your children in North Korea and China and Colombia, that you are with them, that you have never left them and that you never will. Prove it in such a way that every eye may see and every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to your everlasting glory. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.