Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Moses is on the mountain with God. God is instructing him on what is to be made and why. He is also showing Moses what the real item looks like (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5; Revelation 11:19, 15:5 – note that in Revelations the temple referred to NOW seems to be a building, but after the final judgement the temple is God Himself: Revelation 21:22). There was a pattern to follow after the existing item. What a sight that must have been. Better than blueprints.

God is VERY specific about materials and colours. He liked variety and He liked quality. In the desert, there was a tabernacle. In the Kingdom of Solomon and later years in the cities, there is a Temple. In the New Covenant, WE are the temple – also of high quality, specific and careful pieces, and full of a myriad of colours (Ephesians 3:17). Each version of a house of God got progressively bigger. And each HAD to be sanctified. If it wasn’t sanctified and set apart for Him, it was not worthy for him to inhabit. We must be sanctified by Jesus in order to be worthy to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. BUT the fact we have the Holy Spirit is proof that we are in fact sanctified – and we should match our thoughts and actions to that reality (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). Our knowledge that He always dwells in us (Deuteronomy 31:6) should be motivation to stay in harmony with Him who by Grace and Mercy chose us. Our works don’t sanctify us, but our works should naturally come from our sanctification – we don’t do to be, we are so we do.

“And you will put the atonement cover above onto the ark, and into the ark you will put the testimony that I will give you.” (Exodus 25:21)

Moses gets instructions for the Ark of the Covenant (the place God would meet with Moses), the lampstand (with seven lamps), the altar, the curtain for the Holy of Holies, the instruments of service, the tabernacle itself and how it went together (it was all portable, made to be assembled and taken apart), and the curtain that surrounded the whole thing (which was seven and a half feet tall). The whole tabernacle was a rectangle 150 feet long by 75 feet wide. The doorway was about twenty-two and a half feet wide. All our measurements are estimates based on our belief that a cubit is 18 inches long.

The instructions show us a few really important things. First, even the smallest details are important to the Lord. Also, almost everything was hard wood covered in gold. Gold is the best and very pretty, but it isn’t very strong. The wood gave it a strong core or inner strength. Between the gold and the material, the wood and the olive oil, these were not things you found lying around the desert. They also wouldn’t have been at Mt. Sinai. This is a testament to the material and supplies that the Israelites brought out of Egypt. It certainly was the best of Egypt the former Pharaoh prophesied to Joseph would be theirs.

The tabernacle and many of the items in it – such as the Ark with its Mercy Seat – were shadows of spiritual realities. Some were things that existed in heaven. Some had to do with Jesus and the sacrifice that He would make to justify us before the Father (Romans 3:24-26, Galatians 2:16) and provide us with salvation.

All of this would be possible because Moses was to have the Israelites give a freewill offering. No amount was set. They could give as much as they wanted. They could give as little as they wanted. They could give nothing if they wanted. Their choice, depending on what they felt in their own hearts. No pressure. An offering is different from a tithe. A tithe is a set amount. It was meant, in the tabernacle/Temple system, to support the priesthood who had no other way to support themselves (the Levites had no share in the Land as prophesied by Israel – Genesis 49:5-7).

God was meticulous. God was forward thinking – He commanded the making of several things for positions and objects that hadn’t yet been appointed or given. God was making this a communal project. And God was focusing attention on Him with visible things and the greater things which could not be seen. Moses was taking it all in – perhaps supernaturally – and repeated it verbatim once he was off the mountain. He had a ways to go, however. God wasn’t done speaking.

Summary

Key Players: God, Moses

Key Themes: The Tabernacle

Key Verse(s): Exodus 25:1-9