EXODUS 25 lesson # 22
GOD SHOULD DESIGN RELIGION
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction:
Q How many of you have heard a sermon, in church, on the Old Testament tabernacle?
An = I never have, but the chapters that describe this tent made in the desert comprise chapters 25-31 and 35-40 (13 chapters). That is a lot of space given by the Holy Spirit.
Q Why is so much of this important book given to such details? What is its importance?
An = The “Tabernacle” is concerned with “worship” and worship is an important part of our lives. Today we will begin to see part of how the Lord wishes to teach us about worship and then pick up more on this agenda in the weeks to come.
Note: The book of Exodus basically has three parts:
I. The Exodus from Egypt: Salvation chapters 1-18
II. The Giving of the Law: Revealing God’s Will chapters 19-24
III. The Building of the Tabernacle: Worship chapters 25-40
Remember we said the key thing about the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law is that salvation and keeping the Law only make sense in the context of relationship. God saves us, as He saved Israel from bondage, because He wanted to bring them into a relationship with Himself as His special people. Our obedience of His laws and commandments is our way of responding back to His love. Our way of saying: “Yes, we belong to you”. Now we move into the third part of the relationship: worship.
Q What is worship? How do we relate to God in worship? Is there a right way and a wrong way?
An = Let me open with a quote before we begin to examine Exodus 25. Oswald Chambers says: “Worship is giving to God the best He has given us….” (Approved unto God, p. 88), or “It is presenting back to God the best He has given to us, publicly not privately” (So Send I You, p. 149). God is always giving to us and worship is our giving back to God. Let us see “how to give back” in Exodus 25.
III. Giving From the Heart. Exodus 25:1-9.
A. Instructions on How and What to Give. Exodus 25:1-7.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:1-7.
Q According to 25:2 how much is each person to give?
An = Only the amount they wish to give from their heart. If their heart moves them to give, then they should give. When our hearts are involved when we give then we are worshipping.
Q What if your children assessed you a certain amount each year for their gifts? Would that be right?
An = Real gifts, that express love, come from the heart. We know it is right to give, and birthdays, graduations, Christmas, etc. remind us to give, but the best gifts are the ones we give from the heart and the gifts that those we love really want.
Q Does God say bring anything you want or does He give specific parameters for what is to be given in 25:3-7?
An = God gives directions. How strange if a man gave his wife a new set of tools for her birthday because the man felt more comfortable in the tool section of a department store. It is the same way with any relationship, the best gifts are the ones that people really want, not the ones that we want to give.
Q Is God broke?
An = No! God owns the world and could easily create with the sound of His voice all the things needed for the Tabernacle, but He gives Israel a chance to partake and give back to Him what He had given to them. Notice, all that they had was no doubt from what God allowed them to get from the Egyptians. It was God’s actions that granted them these materials in the first place. Israel was asked to give back part of what God had given.
Q So what are we saying to the world when we give?
An = We tell the world and ourselves that all that we have is of our own doing. God had gave it to us. Have someone read Deuteronomy 26:8-10
Our giving indicates our relationship!
Q How come the Lord did not ask for titanium for the building of the tabernacle?
An = Sure, it would have been of better construction to build it of titanium, but Israel had no way of giving that! God only asks that we give the best of what He gave to us.
B. The Two Main Keys to the Building of the Whole Tabernacle. Exodus 25:8,9.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:8-9.
Q What is the reason for building the Tabernacle according to verse 8?
An = So that God may dwell among them. He did not wish to remain only the remote, awesome, unapproachable God of the Mountain. He wanted fellowship. He wanted relationship. He wanted and desired to dwell among them. God, through His Son Jesus Christ, wants fellowship with you. He wants to dwell among His people and that means you.
Q Did these Jews ever deserve His presence?
An = No! This is good to remember because the more we are honest with ourselves, the more we know that we do not deserve His presence among us. However, this is the desire of the Almighty. There is a catch though and it is 25:9.
Q What is the catch about the building of the tent or tabernacle and its contents?
An = It must be done according to the way God desires it to be. We do not worship Almighty God on our terms but on His! We build the tabernacle according to the pattern God shows us.
Q How people will serve God in their own way, but not in the way that God desires them to serve? Do you know people like that?
An = Are we not kidding ourselves when we only serve God on our terms? We are then not in relationship with God, we become a god by telling the true God how we will worship. If we want a valid relationship to God we must worship Him according to His pattern.
Q Have you ever refused to serve God in the way He wants, can you give an example?
An = I know I have often tried to call the shots! There are plenty of things the Lord would liked to have had me do but I refused. What I have realized is that when I call the shots then I am still wanting to be a “junior god”. It makes for lousy religion and most of all it makes for a lousy relationship to our Lord.
IV. The First Key Inner Articles: God’s Instructions Equal Our Blessing. Exodus 25:10-39.
A. The Ark of the Covenant. Exodus 25:10-22.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:10-14, 17-20.
Q What did this box look like?
An = The ark was basically a rectangular box made of wood overlaid with gold. Q Why were their poles put to put in the rings?
An = The poles could be fitted in so that the box could be moved without touching it.
Q What does this mean? Why the careful instructions for the rings and poles?
An = It was to be portable and to be portable without being touched.
Q Why were they not to touch it?
An = 1) First, it was not to be touched because God is holy and as much as He wants to dwell among us, He knows we need to know of His “holiness” and “holiness” literally means in hebrew “to be separate”. If we have no respect, then we cannot really be in proper relationship to God. 2) The poles obviously mean that the ark was movable because Israel was on the move and God was going to be with them. Our lives never really stand still and God will be with all of the times and passages in our lives.
Q How many of you today are going through trying times, and times of great changes? Let me see your hands?
An = The design of the ark tells us that God can be with you in all of them. He can move “with” you through all your travels through health or sickness, single or married, with or with out children, in one occupation or in another, in all seasons of your lives. There are poles on the ark.
Q On the lid of the ark were Cherubim, what did Cherubim look like?
An = Actually, we do not know. Some thought they were winged human figures or winged lions, but the best scholarship wisely reports that we do not know.
Q What was the function of these cherubim?
An = First, they were guards of God’s holiness. Again, we return to this issue. God must be understood as holy if we are to validly approach Him. Second, where the wings did not completely touch was a space and this space was the throne of Almighty God. In other words, God was invisible, not conceivable in an image. He was beyond all imagining. He is beyond all our comprehension.
Q If God can not be comprehended, can he be approached?
An = The Bible and your own experience says He can. Israel was safe-guarded from idolatry because they could not control Him through ritual actions, nor with their minds comprehend His glory and greatness. He can be known, approached and experienced but not comprehended and certainly not controlled. God is a person, in some ways like you. I can know you but not comprehend the depth of what makes you, you.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:21.
Q Why was a copy of the Law or Ten Commandments to be put into the Ark of His Presence?
An = In the ark was a copy of the “Will of God”, a copy of His testimony. To approach God we do so intelligently because He communicates to us what He desires. In our worship we are not to forget how we are to honor Him in our daily lives outside of the Tabernacle or how we can please in how we treat our fellow man.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:22.
Q What will God do from between the two outstretched wings of the cherubim?
An = Where the wings of the two cherubim did not touch was place were we could “meet with God”. We could not only draw near but He will speak to us dynamically about our specific situations. A lot of people desperately need God to speak to them today. They need a word from Him now about their needs and about their situation. God is willing to speak and approachable if we approach on His terms. In addition, what He tells us dynamically from between the two cherubim does not come in distinction to what He says in His Law. The God who speaks from between the two cherubim has the Law right beneath it. I think these two verses are together to help us understand that when God speaks afresh to our specific needs and situations it is never in contradiction to what He has already said. God will speak to us afresh but never in contradiction to what He has already said in the Bible.
B. The Table of Shewbread and the Lamp. Exodus 25:23-39.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:23-30
Q Was God hungary? Who actually ate this bread?
An = The Table with the bread displayed on it was not because God was hungary. The bread actually went to the priests and their families.
Q What does the shewbread symbolize?
An = The bread was present because it reminded Israel that God was going to provide for them. In a lot of churches there is a table and on it is put the holy sacraments of communion and it reminds us that we will be sustained by God. We do not feed God, the shewbread reminds us that it will be God who will feed us.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 25:31-39
Q What does the Golden Lamp Stand symbolize?
An = The Golden Lamp Stand reminds Israel that God is the Light of their lives. He is light and not darkness. There are lights in most churches, and they remind us that Christ is the Light of the World. We are people of the light, because our God is light. The candles in our churches and the Lamp Stand in the old Tabernacle are symbols of the greater truth that will be revealed in heaven.
V. Conclusion. Exodus 25:40.
>>>> You read Exodus 25:40.
Q What is the last thing God says to Moses in this chapter?
An = He was to listen to what God says and follow His pattern of worship.
Q Is there something He wants of you?
RQ Have you been approaching God on your terms?
Note: I have found that it does not work. Let me close in reading from an account of the end of time and you will see why some of the symbolism we talked about is so important….
>>>> Have someone read Revelations 21:23-27.