We'll be turning to Exodus chapter 38. So in our series through Exodus, this is message number 45 entitled, Finishing the Tabernacle. We'll be looking at chapter 38, and I'll read verses 1 and 2 as we get started. And he made the altar of burnt offering of sheetum wood. Five cubits was the length thereof and five cubits the breadth thereof. It was four square and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it. The horns thereof were of the same and he overlaid it with brass. So chapter 37 continued the account of building the tabernacle with the record of the making of the tabernacle furniture. And the items themselves are given in that record almost verbatim from the previous chapters when Moses received the instructions for the tabernacle on the mount for 40 days and 40 nights. This repetition, as we've noted as we've been going through these chapters, continues to highlight for us Israel obeying God's words. So we have the instructions Then we have the record of them making it, and they're almost, just word for word, exactly the same. The main differences really are just some things that are added in the account of the actual making of it, not that they added to what God instructed, but just different details that are spoken of there. The additions to these descriptions include references to the builders and the crafters and those sort of things. And that also gives us a certain emphasis on their willingness for the work, as well as the skill that they had for the work, which God had given them through His Spirit. Now, as we come to chapter 38, we're finishing off the tabernacle build. with the courtyard. So remember the tabernacle had this enclosure that went around it. So you have a few exterior items like the altar and the laver and such that were outside of the tent. And so this includes, again, more repetition from the previous instructions. We do get a new section at the end of this chapter, which gives us an account of the offerings that were given, which essentially made up the materials for the building of the tabernacle, the making of all of those things. So this courtyard, again, was made by this enclosure, this fence that was around the tabernacle itself, the burnt offering, the laver was there at the door, before the door of the tent. Reinforcing, once again, there was a separation. God was going to dwell in the midst of Israel, but still yet, He was going to be fenced off, and He's going to be in his presence, his Shekinah glory in the most holy place. And having that altar and then that laver right at the entering in of the tabernacle reinforced the idea that approach to God requires blood atonement and it requires cleansing. And so even though God was going to dwell in their midst, there was still this sort of separation, this sort of restriction that existed for those of Israel. So as we look at this chapter, verses 1 to 20 primarily take up the account of the courtyard and everything along with that. Verses 21 to 31 give us an account of those materials. These were the things that were given in free will offerings from the nation of Israel. So we're going to start with the first part here. Let's look at starting out with verses 1 to 7. And he made the altar of burnt offering of sheet and wood. Five cubits was the length thereof and five cubits the breadth thereof. It was four square and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it. The horns thereof were of the same and he overlaid it with brass. And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots and the shovels and the basins and the flesh hooks and the fire pans, all the vessels thereof made he of brass. And he made for the altar a brazing grate of net work under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it. And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass to be places for the staves. And he made the staves of sheet of wood and overlaid them with brass. And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar to bear it withal. He made the altar hollow with boards." So this is the record of the building of the altar of the burnt offering. This was the altar that was outside of the tabernacle. This was the primary altar where the sacrifices that were made were to be burnt upon this particular altar. Now we see this, he made. We continue to see that reference and that refers back of course to Basilel and his oversight. There's some ambiguity there as to whether he personally was making all of these items or whether it really was sort of he was making it but through the people he was overseeing and such. But regardless, these things were being made by those whom God had chosen for this work, had gifted for this work, and those that they had taught that had also been given wisdom of skill through the Spirit. Now, the original instructions for the altar were given back in chapter 27. in verses 1 to 8, and we do have, again, much repetition, nearly the same that is referred to. Now, there is one reference to this altar, and as far as I know, it's the only time that disappears, that's Leviticus 4, verse 7, where it's actually referred to as the altar at the door. And again, just reinforcing the idea that access to that tabernacle, which essentially meant access to the presence of God, access to that tabernacle, had to come by sacrifice. It had to come by shedding of blood. The altar itself, we read how that it was to be sanctified with the sprinkling of the blood and had to be atoned for on the Day of Atonement and all these sort of things. And then the sacrifices and offerings could be offered for the rest of the year and all of that sort of thing. But again, that access to God was restricted. You could not enter into the tabernacle without going by that altar that was out in front of the door. Verse number eight, and he made the laver of brass and the foot of it of brass and of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now he's referring here to this laver, this wash basin that stood between the altar and the door of the tabernacle itself. And the instructions for this wash basin were given back in chapter 30 and verses 17 to 21. Now we do have, this is a case where we do have an added detail in this verse. The added detail here is that the women who gathered at the tabernacle to serve gave their mirrors for this laver to be made. So these bronze mirrors would obviously have come from Egypt. Egypt, as I understand it, was actually known for these in ancient times. Of course, mirrors at that time generally were some sort of metal that would be highly polished so that it would be reflective. Obviously not as good as a glass mirror that we have today as far as the quality of the reflection, but they would be highly polished to be able to show a reflection and so that's what's being referred to. They gave these mirrors that were these metal mirrors that had been polished and they gave those to be melted down and to be used for the bronze overlaid on this altar and of course to all of the instruments and utensils and things that had to be made from that as well. The mention of these women assembling, and they assembled at the door of the Tabernacle Congregation, how that these women served is never stated. were never told what they did, but the fact that this wasn't just a one-time thing for the building of the tabernacle, so to speak, this was something that was ongoing. We do have another reference to them, actually in 1 Samuel 2 and verse number 22, of course, sadly, In that reference, that's about the failure of the priesthood and Eli's sons, who was abusing those women who gathered for service at the door of the tabernacle. We're never told what their ages were. A lot have suspected that these were widows, but there's nothing in the Old Testament to indicate that these were widows specifically or that there was any sort of age or anything of that nature. And again, what their service consisted of. In fact, here and in 1 Samuel 2 is the only two times that they are mentioned in the Old Testament. And there's only one other mention that could possibly be referenced to the same, and we don't know that for certain, but if you remember in Luke 2, verses 36-38, you had Anna who is described as a prophetess, that she was at the temple, serving at the temple day and night, and that was at the time of the birth of Jesus. Now, that could be connected. In other words, this could have been a practice that was reinstituted after the second tabernacle was built, but we just don't really have a lot to go on about that. But of Anna, her service seemed to mostly consist of prayers, and she certainly was a widow. But again, What these women did exactly and all of that sort of thing, I mean, we're never told. We're not given instructions for them anywhere. And so it seems like that at least a portion of what they were there for was for praying. But beyond that, we don't really know. Now beginning at verse number nine and going down through verse 20. And he made the court on the south side southward. The hangings of the court were of fine twined linen and 100 cubits. Their pillars were 20 and their basin sockets 20, the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. And for the north side, the hangings were 100 cubits, their pillars were 20 and their sockets of brass 20, the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the west side were hangings of 50 cubits. their pillars tan and their sockets tan, the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver, and for the east side, eastward, 50 cubits. The hangings of the one side of the gate were 15 cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and in that hand, were hangings of 15 cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. All the hangings of the court roundabout were of fine twine linen, and the sockets for the pillars were of brass. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver, and the overlaying of the chapiters of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen and 20 cubits was the length and the height and the breadth was five cubits and answerable to the hangings of the court. And their pillars were four and their sockets of brass four, their hooks of silver and their overlaying of their chapters and their fillets of silver. And all the pins of the tabernacle and of the court roundabout were of brass. So this is the record of the building of the enclosure, the fence that had these upright wooden posts and the curtains that was made and all of their connections that were made to all go together and to form this rectangle that surrounded and enclosed the tabernacle. And the instructions for this enclosure were given back in chapter 27 verses 9 to 19. And this was a sort of a fence or a wall that surrounded and enclosed the tabernacle. It had a door and entering in. and entering in places and all of these hangings that were to be made. Again, we looked at all of these things. You read through there and there's a lot of, you know, the sockets and this and that. And so these things are difficult to visualize. And again, we don't know exactly what they looked like as far as the finished product was concerned. But we do know that they connected all together. It all fit together. And remember, this had to be portable. So it had to be disassembled and reassembled. And so all these clasps and all these different things had to essentially be mass manufactured in a sense. They had to be identical pieces so that they're interchangeable. And so this could be taken down and it could be put back up. time and time and time again and had to all fit together. So there was a high degree of precision that was required in the building of this tabernacle. Then we get to the last part of the chapter and that's where we read about these offerings, the materials that were used in the making of all of these things. Let's look at verses 21 to 23. This is the sum of the tabernacle. even of the tabernacle of testimony as it was counted according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest and Basilel the son of Uri the son of Hur and of the tribe of Judah made all that the Lord commanded Moses and with him was the Holy Ab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan an engraver and a cunning workman and an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet and fine linen. So this last section doesn't have a parallel passage like most of what we've looked at in the past few chapters. And partly because, obviously, this is a record of what was done. So it's a record of the actual work being done. But notice how that the tabernacle here is referred to as the Tent of the Covenant, Tabernacle of Testimony or Tent of the Covenant, Tabernacle of the Covenant, which is an unusual name. That's a title that most usually is ascribed to the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant is what we read about or the Ark of the Testimony. And it appears here and it appears a few times in Numbers where the Tabernacle is referred to as the Tent of the Covenant. But that's it. It's not a common way to refer to the tabernacle, but it does remind us that the tabernacle The priesthood, the altars, the law, all of these things all belong to the old covenant. They're all part of what was to be done away with and the reason why is because they were superseded by a better covenant, by a better law, by a better temple, by a better priesthood and so on. Now we once again get referenced to these skilled builders and crafters who were involved in making the tabernacle, all the furnishings, all the utensils. And we're picking up on this highlighting again of the fact that everything that they made was according to what the Lord commanded. So even though all of these workers were very highly skilled and be able to do these things and been able to teach in the case of of Aholiob and Basiliel especially, they were able to teach and instruct others who had skill to be able to do exactly what was needed. So even though they had great skill and probably could have used that skill in any number of ways and could have created any number of works and crafts that they were capable of doing, but they used those things, submitted to the commands of God and made what He specified. So his instructions that were previously given on the mountain during those first 40 days and nights that Moses spent up there, that is what formed the specifications for the making of all of these things. That is what they followed. Now, beginning verse 24, we'll look down to the rest of the chapter. All the gold that was occupied for the work and all the work of the holy place, even the gold of the offering was twenty and nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was 100 talents and 1,703 score and 15 shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. A becka for every man that is half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary for everyone that went to be numbered from 20 years old and upward for 600,000 and 3,550 men. And of the 100 talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil. and 100 sockets of the 100 talents, a talent for a socket. And of the 1,770 and five shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their chapters and filled them. And the brass of the offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels. And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and the brazen altar and the brazen grate for it and all the vessels of the altar and the sockets of the court roundabout and the sockets of the court gate and all the pens of the tabernacle and all the pens of the court round about. So we get this listing of all these materials that were given for the making of the tabernacle and all these things and how these things were used, even the measure of them that was used in the making of it. And remember that all of these came from the nation of Israel. Now one detail that we're given here is that this included the poll tax or the census tax. Now we read about that being commanded back in chapter 30 verses 11 to 16 and this was not an annual thing or there was no particular time frequency for this to be done. But whenever there was a census, and the census numbered all of the males of Israel that were 20 years old and older. That was what the census was taking. And when that was taken, every male of Israel 20 years old and older was to give half a shekel of silver. And this was for the maintenance and the upkeep of the tabernacle and all of these various things. But the very first one that they took was used in the building of the tabernacle. And this was given by what we read there, 603,550 men. So that's again, that's just the men, all the males of Israel that are 20 years old and upward, 603,550. And all of them died except two and did not enter. into the promised land because of their sin. Now, of course, we're not getting into that here, but that is sort of just mind boggling to think about. 603,550 men and 603,548 of them all died in the wilderness, never saw the promised land. Well, the rest of the materials were given and according to this, I mean, the census tax only made up a portion, obviously. The rest of it was all the free will offerings that were given by the people. And we saw earlier in this section of Exodus, how that they were giving and giving and giving and in fact they had to be stopped because enough was given and they still wanted to keep giving and they had to be restrained, which is the language that's actually used there. They had to be restrained from giving more because they were willing and able and ready to give but they had given enough. And so now we have an accounting of what was given and how that it was used and everything that was used and this is what it took to make this tabernacle and to make all of these things for it. So now, once again, we're looking at this section. It seems to be just a lot of sort of descriptive information. It could almost read like an official report, especially this last part of this chapter. You know, this is an account of the work that was done, this is what was given, this is how it was used, and so on. So we want to think again about some of the lessons that we can take from the building of the tabernacle. So if you think about, we're seeing this emphasis again and again of them doing things according to what the Lord commanded Moses. Well, think about sort of, maybe it's sort of like a chain of command in a sense, but Moses talked with God face to face. In other words, just like two people who might meet in a room to have a conversation, that's how Moses talked with God. Now, that was unique. That didn't happen with the other prophets and with others in Scripture. Moses was certainly unique among the prophets, but he met with God and talked with God as two people might just get together and have a conversation. Now, of course, when he was talking with God, he's receiving revelation. He's receiving instructions. This is what Israel must do. So that means that, in turn, Moses had to take the instructions that he'd been given, he saw the model that he was told everything had to be made by, and then, in turn, he had to explain that to the overseers for the work. And, of course, they'd been given wisdom, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, we're told, they'd been given wisdom for this work, and then they, in turn, had to turn around and teach those that were skilled, had been given wisdom through the Spirit, and instruct them to actually make and do all of the work required for everything pertaining to the tabernacle. So, when we think about this and put this in certain perspective, we can't directly apply this to today. In other words, this is a context that we're not in. Moses was talking to God as any two of us might step aside and have a conversation about something. That's the way that Moses talked to God, and that was unique. So we're not in this context, and we're certainly not under the Old Covenant, we're not building a tabernacle, all of these certain things. So once again, I just don't want us to lose sight of that. But we can see certain parallels. In other words, we can see some certain general principles that apply, again, generally to the service of God and find some lessons from that. That's what we want to look at. So the record of their giving and their making and building and all of that, it does show another important aspect of service. We've picked several of these up as we've been going through. I don't know if you've sort of underlined or made a list or if you've been keeping track. We were told several times that those that served did so of a willing heart, willingly, and we talked about what that meant. We also saw that not everyone did, as not everyone was willing, not everyone did serve, but those who did, they did it willingly, we're told. We're told that those who gave, they gave willingly, and we talked about what that meant. But when we think about the willingness of service, we could sort of break that down into some components. So, the willingness of service involves a necessary self-motivation. I don't love that description, but what I mean is that they were they were internally, they were willing of heart, we're told several times, willing of heart. In other words, they weren't coerced, they weren't forced, they weren't threatened, and they weren't even given the carrot. They weren't given the promise of some lavish reward or recognition if they did this. They did it because they wanted to. That's what I mean by being self-motivated. They wanted to serve. And another Another aspect that we could break this willingness down into is that of commitment. They had to commit to this work. They had to take the instructions, they had to receive the training, they had to actually do the work, and then that comes to the last part of it, and that's what we could call follow through. They had to actually do the work and complete it. They had to keep doing what God said to do until it was done. And we can think about some, again, general principles. Think about in James 2, verses 15 to 16, where James wrote, "...if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?" In other words, there could be some willingness there, there could be some desire there, there could be some ideas and some good thoughts there, but if there's no follow-through and there's no actual doing of it, then it's completely unprofitable service, it's of no benefit to anyone. So we see that as well as we get to the end here and we get this sort of summary, as it were, at the end of this chapter. This is all that was done. This is what was given. This is what was made. This is how it was used. This work was completed. They committed to it and they followed through. Well, we could talk about that even some more, but we think about the tabernacle. being finished, being completed. And later, the presence of God would fill it. They were literally making a house. forgot in what they were doing. And it didn't happen overnight. It took about a year, I think it was. It took a while. I mean, they had to keep on day after day after day, not only Sabbath day, and then day after day after day, so on. They had to keep on at this work until it was finished. And not only was it finished, but it had to be finished according to what God told them to do. So they were building a home of sorts for God. But it also illustrates another very important fact, something that Paul was talking about in Acts chapter 17 in the verses that we're memorizing. Even though they were building a house for God, so to speak, it wasn't capable of containing God. God wasn't contained in this tent or this tabernacle. It's not like Israel could make this tabernacle and set it up over there and that's where God is. God wasn't contained. You don't live in houses made by men's hands. That's what Paul was talking about. And when the Levites carried the ark, they weren't carrying God around. The Shekinah glory wasn't dwelling between the cherubim as they're walking around with those poles carrying that ark around. So what is the point? Well, ultimately again, the tabernacle anticipates God tabernacling among us in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ. And just as God reminded Israel, you're not carrying me, I'm carrying you.