you Alright, so we'll be continuing the series through the book of Exodus. This is now message number 42 in this series. The title of this message is Willing and Able. And we're going to be looking at Exodus chapter 35. So I want to read verses 1 to 3 as we get started. And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, these are the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you in holy day a Sabbath of rest to the Lord, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. I remember quite a number of years ago, I suppose I could have said decades ago, but that would make some of you think that I'm old. I had to do this presentation in a class and I wanted to do really well on it. And I'd spent quite a bit of time getting it ready. I'd invested some money as well. I had some transparencies made so that I could use the overhead projector for this presentation and such. And so I was all ready. So the time came and I did my presentation. And after the class was over, the teacher came up to me and and was very sort of excited looking and seemed like really enjoyed the presentation. And he talked about a number of things, made several comments about how well done it was and all this sort of thing. But then after that, he gave me the bad news. And the bad news was that while on the one hand he had said this was a really great presentation on this particular subject, I hadn't followed the instructions for the presentation. For one thing, there was a strict time limit, and I think I was over that quite considerably. But I just thought I had so much good information that surely, you know, that would allow for some extra time and some other things that I hadn't quite done as was supposed to be done and had added some other things in and so on. So after it was all said and done, Despite the fact that he enjoyed the presentation, I got a C. And that may have been the most valuable lesson that I actually learned in that class. And this is actually an error that we make or are prone to make all the time when it comes to God's Word. we think that we can sort of make up for not obeying God's instructions by doing more somewhere else, something that maybe appeals to us, something that we like better or are more inclined to do. And we oftentimes think we can sort of go the extra mile here and make up for the lack over here. But the truth is, You cannot please God by extra work that actually disobeys His Word. And this chapter actually anticipates that particular problem in Israel with particular commands that starts this chapter out. Now, chapter 34 that we looked at last time, ended the section in Exodus that concerns Israel's sins with the golden calf. And once again, we see the tension between Israel's sins and their sinfulness as well as God's mercy and justice. And that seems to be emphasized particularly in that particular section, reminding us of all the restrictions of access, all the separations that were actually highlighted in the tabernacle with the veil that separated the most holy place and the veil that made the door of the tabernacle that separated the holy place. And then the fence around that enclosed it all. Of course, the Old Covenant could not provide better access. And that would only come through the New Covenant later, which it foreshadows. The chapter recorded Moses seeing God's glory. And we noted how that God's glory comprehends his entire being and all of his attributes, such as mercy on the one hand and complete justice on the other. Grace on the one hand and wrath on the other. Holiness on the one hand and yet forgiveness on the other. And we could go on and on with those particular attributes, but God's glory encompasses them all. Now, there's also in chapter 34 of Exodus. an extremely crucial and central theological statement, and that's in verses 6 and 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation." Now that statement in itself seems to be contradictory, at least in some sort of conflict But this is an essential statement of God's name and of God's character. And it undergirds His promises. And it assures the complete fulfillment of everything that God has promised to do. And this statement, this central theological statement, so early in the Bible, the book of Exodus 34, verses 6 to 7, is quoted directly several times in other books of the history, in the books of wisdom, And in the prophets, examples would be Numbers 14, 18, later in the Pentateuch. Later in the histories, Nehemiah, this is after the destruction of the temple, Nehemiah 9, verse 17. Recollections or reflections in the Psalms, Psalm 86, verse 15. Psalm 103, verse 8. Psalm 145, verses 8 and 9. And then in the prophets, like Joel 2, verse 13. Even in Jonah 4, verse 2. Nahum 1.3, Micah 7.18-19. And these are direct quotes, but there's also allusions to this as well throughout the Old Testament. And there's many New Testament references that refer to the grace and truth and mercy and some of these attributes that are built upon this central theological foundation that God has revealed about Himself. And also that great chapter, in Romans chapter 9 that we referred to a few times in the last few chapters here in Exodus. And Paul is drawing that wonderful theology about God. He's drawing from these early chapters in the Bible. So these books then Genesis and Exodus and on to Deuteronomy in particular. These books are truly foundational to the rest of Scripture. And they are foundational to the revelation of truth about God. I mean, how are we going to know who God is if we're not going to start at the beginning of what He has revealed about Himself? And I would say that it's probably neglect and misunderstanding of these books that has contributed to a lot of confusion among Christianity and other problems as well. Well, we've come to chapter 35 now. And chapter 35 begins this final section of the book of Exodus that runs from here to the end of the book. And this final section of the book centers around the building of the tabernacle, the making of all the related items for the tabernacle and for the service of the priesthood and the altars and so on. Well, after the golden calf, Moses had interceded for Israel. And he interceded that God would not destroy the nation. And later then, God said He wouldn't go in the midst of Israel. So in other words, all the tabernacle instructions that had been given there on Mount Sinai had been given so that God would dwell with the nation, and then God said He wouldn't. He wouldn't dwell with the nation. Well, the fact that the tabernacle is going to be built, and we see that beginning here in chapter 35, the fact that the tabernacle is going to be built shows that God did not forget His covenant with Abraham nor the nation that He had chosen. So that raises the question for us, were those things just empty threats? When we think about chapters 32 to 34 in Exodus, there seemed to be a number of threats that God made that he did not keep specifically. So were these just empty threats? And I hope that maybe we can answer that by the end of this particular chapter. So this section in Exodus And this chapter includes quite a bit of repetition from earlier on Mount Sinai. But something we have to keep in mind as we're reading about this building, and we read a lot of the similar statements as what we saw before, The context has certainly changed because it is different now since the Golden Calf incident. And there are some notable differences between the earlier instructions. We notice in this chapter in particular there's this repeated emphasis on wisdom or skill and on willingness. They seem to be two themes in this chapter for the people of Israel, and they're not the same thing. So we're going to look at this in two parts. Break it down, verses 1 to 19, which describes the materials for the work, and verses 20 to 35, which describes the workers and the teachers for the work. So we'll start with the first part, and we'll go back to verses 1 to 3. And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you in holy day a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. So we begin again here with commands concerning the Sabbath, and it certainly raises the question of why the repeated emphasis for the Sabbath? In other words, we don't get repetition of a lot of other commands that God has given to this point, but we are seeing this repetition concerning the Sabbath right before He begins to issue the commands concerning building the tabernacle. Well, at least one reason for this emphasis has to do with the actual building of the tabernacle and the making of everything that has been commanded for the tabernacle. The nation was assembled together. The nation was instructed here. And there's emphasis on the commands of Yahweh for them to do right there in verse number one. And if you recall, obeying all his words was the very basic covenant condition all the way back in chapter 19 verses 5 to 6. In other words, he hadn't at that point issued all the commands that they were to obey, but the understanding was that they were to obey all of his words going forward. And so there's sort of a reiteration and a reference to that as we get started with the building of the tabernacle. Now the first command in verses 2 and 3 has to do again with the Sabbath day, the Sabbath being the weekly Sabbath or the seventh day of the week. And he says that this day was to be holy. In other words, it was to be held separate from the other days. It wasn't to be like the other days of the week. The word for work that is used here, we're talking about not doing any sort of work, The word that's used is interesting because it doesn't really include what we might think of as service type of work, works of necessity. And you think about maybe like the animal that's fallen into the pit that Jesus refers to in Luke chapter 14 and verse number five. So that wouldn't come under the work prohibition for the Sabbath day. The word that's used refers to workmanship, refers to profitable labor, including public works. So it would have the idea of advancing, of advancing oneself, advancing one's business, advancing one's livelihood, advancing one's project. And so the contextual point, as we think about what's taking place here, the contextual point is that they were being reminded that they were particularly to observe the Sabbath day during the making of the tabernacle. They were not to do anything toward the making of the tabernacle on the Sabbath day. When you think about it, they did not at this point They did not have farms. They did not have livelihood, so to speak. They didn't have businesses and those sorts of things. But they did have a public project, and that was the tabernacle and all of its furnishings. And they're being told specifically that they were to do none of that work on the Sabbath day, the seventh day every week. And then we see that this is further reinforced in verse number three by them being prohibited from kindling a fire on the Sabbath day. Now, one thing that's interesting about this particular instruction is that this is the only reference in the entire Bible to kindling a fire on the Sabbath day. It's not quoted. It's not even referred to indirectly elsewhere. This is it. Well, obviously, then, the context has something to do with this prohibition, and particularly as it applies to the building of the tabernacle. The tabernacle required a lot of metalwork, and that metalwork obviously required fire. And so, specifically, the prohibition here, again, is against working on the tabernacle on the Sabbath days. starting preparing these fires, anything that would be needed for that. There would certainly be no restriction against a fire needed for warmth. That does not seem at all to be the design of this prohibition. And at least one reason as we think about the repetition of this command concerning the Sabbath and not doing any work, not kindling a fire, would be to serve to curb the enthusiasm of the people. In other words, after the golden calf, their zeal may have run away from them to sort of do extra work for the Lord to kind of make up for where they had gone wrong. And that's actually an error that Israel made throughout its history as you go on reading throughout the Old Testament and then you get to the prophets which give so many rebukes and so many condemnations to Israel and to Judah for many of their wrongdoings. And oftentimes it's this very fact There's God's words that they're disregarding and then they're trying to do extra. They're trying to sort of make up for it in some other area. And so this anticipates that very sin and would prevent or at least speak against it. Then we look at verses 4 to 9. And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord. Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring ye an offering to the Lord, gold and silver and brass and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen and goat's hair and ram's skin dyed red and badger skin and sheet of wood and oil for the light and spices for anointing oil and for the sweet incense and onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. So he talks here about the offerings that they were to bring, and this list is very similar to what we saw back in chapter 25 in verses 4 to 8, although it is a little more extensive than the list that was given there. And the emphasis here that is repeated is on this being an offering that's given from a willing heart. And you're going to see that repetition here that emphasizes these two facts. So what is an offering? Well, the term that's used here, it refers to a gift. And it is something that is distinct from a tithe, for instance, that Israel was commanded to give. It is something that is distinct from the redemption money that they were to pay for the firstborn. It's something that is distinct from the poll tax that we also saw among those 20 and up and so forth in Israel. In other words, this is something different than from any other sort of giving that has been commanded or is commanded according to the law, this is a voluntary gift. This is what sometimes we refer to as a free will offering. And so it's an offering that must be made from a willing heart. So that dual emphasis comes through. Now a willing heart means a heart that is volunteering. It's a voluntary gift. But it doesn't just mean voluntary. It also has the idea of gladly willing. Not grudgingly willing. Not grieved and willing. repetition of the principle in Deuteronomy chapter 15 and verse 10, And you know how that Paul later referred to the offering that was being collected for the church in Jerusalem, and he was writing to the church at Corinth, which that church had, about a year prior to that time, had volunteered and offered that they were going to give this offering, and then they had been negligent to follow through on what they had promised to do. And anyway, as Paul was addressing that in 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7, he referred to a cheerful giver. a willing giver. And so this concept is what is being underlined and emphasized here in these offerings to be given for the tabernacle. They were free will offerings. They were gifts. It wasn't a tithe. It wasn't a tax. It wasn't any other sort of price or commanded giving. They were giving a free will offering And they were to do so willingly, gladly, this willing heart, as you see emphasized and repeated in this section. So willingness was chiefly what was needed in terms of the gifts for the making of the tabernacle. Well, then we get to the next part in verses 10 to 19. among you shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded, the tabernacle, his tent and his covering, his taches and his boards, his bars, his pillars and his sockets, the ark and the staves thereof with the mercy seat and the veil of the covering, the table and his staves and all the vessels and the showbread, the candlestick also for the light and his furniture and his lamps with the oil for the light, and the incense altar and his staves and the anointing oil and the sweet incense and the hanging for the door at the entering in of the tabernacle, the altar of burnt offering with his brazen grate, his staves and all his vessels, the laver and his foot. the hangings of the court, his pillars and their sockets, and the hanging of the door of the court, the pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court and their cords, the cloths of service to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office. So we get, obviously there's a lot of repetition here, mentioning the various things that had already been commanded to be made, and there's more information really about those back in the chapters with Moses on Mount Sinai for the 40 days and 40 nights. that we looked at previously. But you'll notice in this particular section the emphasis is not on the willingness of giving, but on the willingness of working. And so it's not only willingness that is required, now that is chiefly what's required in the giving, it's not only the willingness that's required, but the ability that was needed for the making of the tabernacle. And so the companion here to the willingness of the giving is the wise heartedness, the craftsman, the artisan, the builder, the maker. The same word that's used for wisdom here, again, We looked at it before, and it's used in many places, particularly throughout Proverbs, one of those words used for wisdom. It typically refers to skill. So it refers to knowledge and ability to make things that are required. It's the skill of not just sort of a make-do sort of building, but of craftsmanship, of quality, of even artistry in being able to make the things that are required. These makers, we find out, were men and women of Israel whom God had gifted with abilities for these particular tasks. And so that brings out the fact that not everyone had these abilities. Not everyone could build the altar. Not everyone could plate the gold. Not everyone could make the tapestries. Whatever different things were involved, not everyone in Israel could do those things. But there were those that could. There were those that had those abilities, that had the skills. And among those who had the skills, they were not all equally skilled in all the same areas. And obviously the areas involved carpentry, and woodwork, and metalwork, and stone masonry, and leather works, and needlework, and carving, and on and on we could go. of the various skills that would be required and not everyone possessed those or possessed them in equal measure or possessed them as maybe some were more diverse and it seems like particularly when it comes to the master craftsman that we get into in the next section, they had skills excelling them all. So that's what we begin looking at here in verses 20 to 29. And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing. And they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets and earrings and rings and tablets, all jewels of gold, and every man that offered an offering of gold unto the Lord, and every man with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair, and red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord's offering, and every man with whom was found sheet and wood for any work of the service brought it. And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate, and spice and oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. So now we go from the beginning of the chapter, and you can see in these chapters how there's sort of these parallel parts. So the first part began with the instruction for the offering, and then it was the instruction concerning the workers, and then the second part of the chapter, you have the actual giving of the offering, and then the next part is the actual workers that are being spoken of. So you do have those parallel parts. So now we're paralleling that first part, the offering, And this is where they actually brought the offering, but pay particular attention to the qualifying terms in this chapter. Notice that it was everyone whose heart had stirred him up. Everyone who was moved to give willingly and cheerfully. Everyone whom his spirit made willing, we're told. As many as were willing-hearted. And we see that repetition concerning the things that they brought. And of course, people had different things to bring. Some had gold, some had silver, some had stones, and some had made these linens and different things that were used. But they did it willingly, but not everyone. So apparently not everyone gave. Not everyone was willing to give for the building of the tabernacle. But many were, and enough were that in fact later, I think in the next chapter, Moses has to stop them from bringing any more. because they have enough as it is. And so the continued offering here as the people followed through on what they had been instructed and those that were willing brought this offering. And so that continued emphasis is being placed on the free will offering of the people. And in the last part of the chapter speaks again about those workers beginning with verse 30. And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, and he hath filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship. and to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab the son of Hissamot of the tribe of Dan. them hath he filled with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work." So on the one hand, there's much here that's repeated from back in chapter 31 verses 2 to 6 concerning the workers. We read about this Basilel who was chosen and we're told was filled with the Spirit of God. Not just filled with wisdom, but was filled with the Spirit of God, which in turn filled him with wisdom. And he was essentially what you might call the master builder of the tabernacle. He seemed to be over all of the work that was to be done. And he had a particular assistant in this holy ob, who was maybe what we might consider a lead craftsman. that was specially gifted with wisdom but we're not told that he was filled with the spirit the way that Basiliel was. Well but we also read in verse 34 that they were not only had they been gifted with the abilities, the skill, the knowledge that they needed for the making of all these things, they had also been gifted for teaching. They'd also been gifted for instructing. And so one of their roles then was going to be the instructing of the other craftsmen, the other artisans in this work of everything that was required to be made. So extra skills were gifted to them for instructing as well as for making. And we know that you know, simply having great skill in some type of work doesn't necessarily mean that that person is as well a great teacher of that skill or instructor in that particular craft. But it is highlighted here that Bezalel and Aholia both were. They were given this gift, this ability of teaching as well. So as we think about this chapter, and again there's a lot of repetition, it's easy to sort of, when you're reading these closing chapters of Exodus, it's easy to get bogged down because you read all those chapters on Mount Sinai during the 40 days and nights that Moses was there the first time, and it's easy to get bogged down in all of this repetition. But again, remember, even though there is a lot of repetition, the context has changed. Chapters 32-34 happened. The golden calf happened. Moses' intercession happened. God's glory happened. God's renewing of the covenant with Israel happened. And so, the context is different as we read the actual making of the tabernacle and all of these things. The very fact alone that you start this chapter with what God had commanded them to do and then you start reading about them doing it. So the very fact that God had Israel and Moses to move forward with building the tabernacle at this point highlights the fact that God had not forgotten his covenant with Abraham, nor the nation whom he had chosen. But that again brings us back to the previous chapters and the question was, does that mean that God was merely issuing empty threats to Israel and things he's not going to do? Well, when he talked about destroying the nation, not dwelling among them, and so on. God was not making empty threats, but really was further showing the fact that the Old Covenant would not be the means of fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant. And those things that God threatened, you could say, were nothing less than what Israel deserved for what they had done. And so not carrying those out. in the way that was spoken was also another display of God's mercy and of God's grace. So the Old Covenant would not be the means of fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant, even though back in chapter 19, verses 5 to 6, particularly, it was given for that reason. That was at least one of the reasons. It had other things that it did accomplish, but not that. that will be accomplished later through the New Covenant. So when we think about the people now getting to work, they're keeping God's commands, they're doing what God has told them to do, it's repeatedly emphasized in this chapter that it requires willingness. It requires willingness and a willingness that's not grudging, a willingness that's not merely a sense of duty, well, I have to do this, but a willingness that is actually glad-hearted. There's a real want to in the doing of this work that is being required, as well as the skills that are needed. So willingness, we could say even an eagerness, obviously reflects what is important. In other words, their willingness, their gladness, their eagerness in giving and in doing the work both, again, reflects what is important, what is valued. And obviously there were skilled roles that required both willingness and the ability to do them as well. So the question then for us is, well, what's the modern application? We're reading through this chapter, we're reading about all these things and some of these things again, and we looked at them in more detail back in the previous chapters. We don't know exactly what they are. We don't know exactly what these things look like. Some of these materials, not entirely sure what they were and so on. So what's the modern application? I would say we have to be careful here. I do believe we can find what I might call a principled parallel, but I want to stop short of saying, well, this is a modern application of Old Covenant law. There are many that would try to make application from such a passage as this and encourage people to give and to work toward a church's fundraising efforts, the building program, and on and on and on and on. And I think that there's an important aspect that is missed if we try to make that application from this passage. And that is, what we learn in the New Testament is that local churches are not Israel, are not the priesthood, church buildings are not the tabernacle or the temple, but local churches are not about buildings and land and property. They're not about building buildings. Local churches are actually about building people. Now, that's not to say that buildings and property and such cannot be used and useful in this work and as such would have to be taken care of. That's not the point. My point is that that's not what the local church is for. That's not what it's about. That's not what its purpose is. Rather, the purpose is the building up of people. And in building up the church at Corinth, Paul referred to himself as a wise master builder and said he had laid the foundation in Corinth there in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse number 10. In fact, he uses very similar language to what was said about Basiliel and Aholiob here concerning the tabernacle. He was the wise master builder. Paul didn't build a building in Corinth. Paul didn't build a tabernacle, a temple, or anything of the nature. He didn't institute a building program. None of those things. What was Paul doing? Paul was building up the people in the church at Corinth. He compared that church to a building, compared that church to a body as well, and other things. And if you think about other church epistles, and the pastoral letters as well, they reflect this very same concern. The local church is a body of baptized believers and they're joined together for the worship and the service of God and the edification of one another. And that word edification, to edify, it means to build up. In fact, it quite literally could refer to the raising of an edifice. the building up of each other, the building up of people. And not only that, Paul talks about in Ephesians 4 how that God has given abilities for that, primarily in the teaching and the preaching, and in discipling, and in evangelizing, and he talks about this in some of these other letters as well. Well, the differing abilities within churches was an opportunity for strife. And Paul addressed this in several of his letters because that's exactly what had happened. So just like with the tabernacle, churches need willingness and ability, but they also need the humility the humility to serve where God has placed us. Paul told the church at Corinth, who makes you to differ? Just like a body has many different parts, not every part has the same function. Some might seem to be more glorious, more highly esteemed, and others more dishonorable and so on, but they all have a particular function. But we are to serve without envy, without jealousy, without strife, without bitterness, without fighting, but also with eagerness, with willingness, with a want to about us, that we want to invest in one another, want to invest in the church where God has placed us. And again, it's not about buildings and property and all those sort of things. Those things may be there and have to be taken care of and so on, but being about the building up of people, the building up of a local church for those that are coming along. Just as Paul talked about this in his letters to Timothy and Titus, how that One who would be put in the position of a pastor was to be proven. It wasn't to be put there quickly. It wasn't to be somebody that was newly come. They were to be tested. They were to demonstrate that they had the gifts and the abilities for such a position and to be put there. So again, I wouldn't say that that's an application of Old Covenant law, but it is certainly a principled parallel to what was taking place there and the service of God today.