Everything that is written in
Exodus chapter 37 is written in almost identically the same
words in Exodus chapters 25 and 30. In chapters 25 and 30, the
Lord God told Moses exactly how to make the tabernacle and its
furnishings. In those two chapters, he said,
Moses, this is how you're going to make the ark and the mercy
seat. This is how you must make the table of showbread and all
the vessels of that table. The golden candlestick, its bowls,
and its stuff dishes. They must be made exactly as
I tell you. The golden altar of incense and
even the holy anointing oil and the incense of sweet spices must
be of the combination that I give you specifically, nothing added
to it and nothing taken from it. When we get to chapter 37,
Moses tells us here by divine inspiration that Bezalel made
those things exactly as God declared they must be made. And when you
read this chapter, you might ask reasonably, as I have asked
many times in studying and preparing to get to the messages of these
last three or four chapters of Exodus, why are these things
recorded again? in the very same words. Why? Wouldn't it have been just as
useful, maybe better? Sometimes we do get the notion
that we're a bit smarter than God, don't we? Wouldn't it have
been just as useful, maybe better? For Bezalel, for Moses to have
written, Bezalel made everything like the Lord said make it, and
go on. Because that's really what these
chapters tell us. Everything that God told Moses
must be done was done exactly as God told Moses it must be
done. Of course, we dare not make such
a presumption. If something is repeated in the
book of God, there's a reason for the repetition, and the reason
is good. Tonight, I want us to look at
Exodus chapter 37. We're going to read these 29
verses together. And as we do, I'm simply going
to make a few brief comments on the chapter. The title of
my message is Blessed Repetition. Blessed Repetition. One reason
for the repetition that's given in the book about so many things
is that we are so dull of hearing. And we so desperately need to
hear those things that are revealed in this book. I hope you will
see and see clearly the blessedness of those inspired repetitions
given in the book of God. Let's begin in verse one. And
here we read about the Ark of the Covenant. In Exodus 37, 1
through 5, Moses tells us that Bezalel, this man who was the
great type of our Redeemer, made the Ark of the Covenant just
as the Lord commanded him that it must be made back in chapter
29 at verse 10. All right, let's begin at verse
1, Exodus 37, verse 1. And Bezalel made the Ark of Shittim
wood, a very common but durable wood. made the ark of Shittemwood,
two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and
a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height
of it. It was just about the size of the communion table,
a little broader, a little shorter, just about that size. And he
overlaid it with pure gold, overlaid it within and without. That is,
it was not just the part that you saw, but the inside of the
ark was overlaid with gold as well. All the Shittem wood completely
covered with pure gold. And he made a crown of gold to
it, round about, put crown molding on it. Crown molding of pure
gold. He made four rings of gold to
be set in the four corners, reaching to the four corners of the earth.
even two rings upon the one side of it and two rings upon the
other side of it. And he made staves of shittum
wood and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the
rings by the sides of the ark to bear the ark. Now, remember
what we have just read was written by inspiration of God, the Holy
Spirit. It is written by Moses as Moses
was led by the spirit of God to write. We recognize that the
word of God is indeed just that it is God's word. Everything
in this book was written by the dictation of God, the Holy Spirit,
so that he takes the hand of Moses in his hand and writes
what he would have written exactly as he would have it written.
So the repetition is given here. are not repetitions that are
given without necessity. Don't ever imagine that something
written in the book of God is unnecessary, that something written
in the book of God is redundant. Nothing is. If we read this book
and see that God Almighty forgets not our work of faith and our
labor of love, surely, surely, surely we can never think often
enough remember dearly enough, or speak frequently enough of
his great acts of mercy, his great wonders of grace, and his
great performance of redemption. Listen to what the Apostle says.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you
it's safe. I thank God that he taught me
long ago not to seek something new to preach to you or to anyone
else, not to seek something profound, not to seek to impress you with
learning that I don't have, not to seek to impress you with knowledge
that I don't have, not to seek to unravel deep mysteries of
things that are not revealed in the book. but rather to be
content to preach the same thing to you all the time. All the
time. I get a little upset when I hear
somebody say, well, I've heard you preach that sermon before.
No, you didn't. No, you didn't. I don't repeat them. I don't
repeat them. I prepare freshly for you. But the message is always the
same. It is always the same no matter what the subject is. It
is always the same no matter where the text is found. Because
everything in this book is designed of God and written of God to
show us Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Something about either
what Christ has done for us or what Christ has done in us to
draw our hearts to Him in faith and in commitment continually.
So we continually set before you the wonders of redeeming
love and saving grace, the wonders of blood atonement and perfect
righteousness, drawing your hearts to Christ Jesus the Lord, praying
that the Spirit of God will do so. This Ark of the Covenant
certainly you recognize and understand. portrayed and pictured our Lord
Jesus Christ, our redemption and salvation by him. It is the
ark of salvation. Now, these things were written
originally to the children of Israel, written to these people
to whom the Lord entrusted these sacred treasures. They carried
them with them wherever they went throughout the wilderness.
They carried them all these 40 years. carried them on into the
land of Canaan, carried them through their history until the
temple was built in Jerusalem. The children of Israel were alone
entrusted with these treasures of God, these golden pictures
of grace. But do you realize that none
of them ever saw them? The only ones who ever looked
on those things were the priest who did business in the holy
place. The other folks only heard about them. They saw them wrapped
up and covered up, but they never saw them. They never saw the
table of showbread. They never saw the altar of incense.
They never saw the golden candlestick. They never saw the Ark of the
Covenant. They never saw the mercy seat.
Those things they only heard about and read about in the book
of God. Do you suppose that they got
tired of hearing about those things? You suppose they ever
got tired of hearing someone describe what they saw in the
tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies, what transpired there? Oh, no. Oh, no. What a blessing it was
to them that they were often reminded in the book of God of
these blessed types of the Savior in whom they trusted. These blessed
pictures of him for whom they looked as they anticipated him,
they were reminded continually of what he is and what he would
do, who he is and what he would accomplish. As they looked at
these things in the book of God and heard the description given
in the book of God, they were reminded of what God had done
for them in bringing them out of Egypt. bringing them through
the wilderness, bringing them into the land of promise, and
what God would sure enough do when Christ the Messiah would
come. In the New Testament, we frequently read the same things
repeated over and over and over again. In the four Gospels, in
the four Gospels, we read about events in our Lord's life. His
incarnation, His virgin birth, We read about the various things
that transpired in his life, his flight to Egypt. We read
about the miracles that he performed. We read about the deeds of his
ministry while he walked on this earth, his obedience unto death,
his righteous obedience, his baptism, his resurrection from
the dead, his ascension into glory. We read about these things
two, three, four times in just those four books. They're sometimes
repeated in the very same words. And they're repeated with purpose,
so that we might be reminded of these things, of our Redeemer's
greatness, His glory, and His grace, His accomplishments as
our Redeemer, and see them set before us by Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, set before us as Christ is that one of whom the Scripture
spoke who would come as the sea royal of Abraham and the sea
royal of David, who would come fulfilling the types of the Old
Testament, this man who comes, who is himself God Almighty in
human flesh. And it's repeated again and again
and again. Who would read the four Gospels
and have those things written less often? When did you ever
read anything in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John about the Lord's
walk on this earth, about his multiplying loaves and fishes,
about his raising the dead? When did you ever read anything
and say, well, I read that before, no need to read that again. No,
no, let's have more of it. For it speaks of him whom we
trust. Who loved us and has taught us
to love him, and we delight in every picture. I make no apology
for preaching the same message, often repeating the very same
words. I say with Paul, to preach the same things to you, to me,
indeed is not grievous, but for you, it is safe. It is safe. All right, let's
go back to our text, Exodus 37, verse 6. Here Bezalel, we're
told, constructed the mercy seat. this mercy seat right on top
of the Ark of the Covenant with the cherubim and did it exactly
as the Lord commanded Moses. And he made the mercy seat of
pure gold. Two cubits and a half was the
length thereof and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And he made two cherubim, two cherubs of gold beaten out of
one piece made he them. on the two ends of the mercy
seat. One cherub on the end on this
side and another cherub on the other end on that side. Out of
the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And
the cherubim spread out their wings on high and covered their
wings, covered with their wings over the mercy seat. and with
their faces one to another, even to the mercy seat where the faces
of the cherubims. Try to picture. Here's the golden
mercy seat, the lid on top of the ark covering the law that
Israel had broken, covering the law that God had written again
with his own finger on tables of stone, covering the pot of
manna and Aaron's rod that budded, those signs of life, those signs
of grace and mercy. And it's over those and the cherubs
made out of the same gold and piece, beaten together, looking
downward, facing each other, constantly looking at the mercy
seat. The cherubs were angelic creatures. Isaiah describes them as seraphim.
And he saw when the Lord, he saw sitting on the throne high
and lifted up. And one of the seraphims came
and took tongs from off the altar and took a live coal from off
the altar and touched Isaiah's lips and said, your iniquity
is purged, your sins taken away. And thus, Isaiah heard the word
of the gospel, heard the word of God's grace, that his sin
had been taken away by the sacrifice represented in the blood on the
mercy seat in the altar that was burnt in his stead. And so
the seraphim, the cherubim, portray gospel preachers, God's messengers,
whom God uses to bring the message of his grace to chosen sinners,
giving them the word of consolation, declaring that your iniquity
is taken away, taken away as God himself requires that it
be taken away, taken away by the blood of him who was slain,
whose blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat. And here God meets
you. Here, in this mercy seat, in
the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat, is all the law of God fulfilled. Here is life eternal for sinners. Here, life springs out of the
earth in the resurrected Christ. We cannot keep our blessed Lord
Jesus in view sufficiently. It is of him that both the ark
and the mercy seat speak. Turn over to 1 John chapter 2.
First John chapter two. He is our mercy seat, our propitiation. You hold your hands in John first
John two and listen. Paul speaks about being justified
freely by the grace of God through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. through
faith in his blood. He sent him forth through faith
as the propitiation to declare God's righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. All right,
look here in John, first John, chapter two. John writes, and
he said, My little children, these things write I unto you,
these things about eternal life that God's given you. These things
about the free forgiveness of sin to all who confess their
sin. These things write I unto you that you sin not. Isn't it
amazing how religion turns that around? Why, if you write these
things, folks will make them sin. These things write I unto
you that you sin not. And then he says, and not but. And because it's a dead sure
thing, this shall come to pass if any man sin, if any man sin. Brother Don, you ought not talk
to people that way or discourage them. Reality doesn't discourage
God's people. Sin makes Bob death. You just
nodded your head and said, Amen. Sin's in that. Sin makes everything
we do. If any man sin, oh, bless God
for this next word. We have an advocate with the
Father. Now we've lost him. We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ. Jesus, Savior,
the Christ, the one promised in Scripture, the anointed one
of God. And he is the propitiation for
our sins. This Jesus, the Savior, the Christ,
he's the righteous one and he is the justice satisfaction,
the appeasement of justice, the atoning sacrifice for our sins. That word propitiation is the
word mercy seat. The word mercy seat is the word
propitiation. Same word wherever you find them
in the New Testament. He's our mercy seat. God was
in Christ reconciling us to himself, not imputing our trespasses unto
us, but rather he made our sins to be his son's sins. And his
son suffered all the fury of his wrath until justice is satisfied. And now God says he is the mercy
seed, the propitiation for our sins, the spiritual riches and
beauties of the gospel tabernacle. are by these things recommended
to our frequent and serious consideration. Let us often walk around this
Zion and view it and review it. And the more you contemplate
the glories of Christ and the gospel of God's grace in him,
the more you will admire him. I hope the more you'll love him.
I hope the more you'll trust him. Back in Exodus 37 verse
10. Verses 10 through 16 tell us
again about the table of showbread. And he made the table of shitham
wood, the same common ordinary wood. Speaking of our Lord's
humanity, two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the
breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
And he overlaid it with pure gold. speaking of our Lord's
everlasting deity. And he made there unto a crown
of gold, put crown molding round about it. Also he made there
unto a border of an hand breadth round about. And he made a crown
of gold for the border thereof round about. He cast for it four
rings of gold and put the rings upon the four corners that there
were four feet thereof I'm sorry, there were in the fort that were
in the four feet thereof over against the border where the
rings the places for the staves to bear the table and he made
the staves of shit and wood and overlaid them with gold to bear
the table and And he made the vessels which were upon the table. These vessels, his dishes, and
his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers, to cover with all
a pure gold. What a table. What a table. And my wife can spread a pretty
table. I'd like to have seen that one. The spoons, and the
dishes, and the bowls. Pure gold. Pure gold. The table made out of shit and
wood, overlaid with pure gold. And sitting on the table were
stacks of bread. Twelve of them, all the time.
Kept fresh all the time. The golden table, of course,
and the show bread perpetually kept on the table. portray the
Lord Jesus, our everlasting bread of life. As the showbread was
always to be spread upon the table, the Lord Jesus is always
in the presence of God for us as the showbread was always in
the house of God. So there is always in our father's
house bread enough and despair for every hungry soul. Not only
that, But he bids us not just look at the table, not just look
at the bread on the table, but to eat constantly. He bids us
come and receive the bread, take the wine, eat at his table, eat
and drink abundantly. This is this. He says, come eat
my bread and drink of the wine, which I have mingled. Oh, God,
give us grace. every time we come into this
place to eat the bread of His obedience, His perfect righteousness,
drink the wine of His satisfying atonement, eat and drink of Him,
that our souls may be refreshed, that God the Spirit will give
us eyes to behold Him and to look upon Him. We must never
fail to see the beauty and the glory of our Lord Jesus as he's
set before us in the book of God. In our Father's house, the
bread is always on the table. We preach Christ crucified. Sadly, that's a religious cliche
that preachers often use, and never preach Christ crucified.
Thirty years ago, Brother Merle Hart came up to
me after I thought I'd finished preaching here, and not quite
thirty years ago almost, and talked for nearly an hour about
preaching Christ, and never preached anything about it. And I was
a little distraught, Brother Merle, in his kind, gentle way. This is about as angry as I ever
heard him speak. He said, Brother Dodd, I thank God you don't preach
about preaching Christ, but preach Christ to me. Larry, let's ever seek to know
what God the Spirit intends in every text in the book. But if
you don't see Christ in it, you haven't read what God the Spirit
intends. I'm telling you, I'm telling
you. Well, what do you do then? Skip it. Go to one you do. You
can come back to it later. Go somewhere. Preach what's understood,
what's revealed to you and in you. And until Christ is seen
clearly by your own eyes, in your own soul, you can't show
him to somebody else. We preach Christ. We set the
bread on the table all the time. Look at verse 17. Ezekiel 3,
our Exodus 37. Here we're told that Bezalel
made the golden candlestick just like Moses was told to make it.
And he made the candlestick of pure gold. A beaten work made
he the candlestick. His shaft and his branch, his
bowls, his knops, and his flowers were of the same. and six branches
going out of the sides thereof, three branches of the candlestick
out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick
out of the other side thereof, three bowls made after the fashion
of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower, and three bowls
made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower.
So throughout the six branches, going out of the candlestick,
and in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his
knops and his flowers, and a knop under two branches thereof, of
the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop
under two branches of the same, according to the six branches
going out of it. Their knops and their branches
were the same. All of it was one beaten work. That is, this lampstand, this
golden lampstand with all its branches and all of its flowers
and all of its bowls, all of it's just one lampstand, one
beaten work. Their knops and their branches
were the same. And all of it was one beaten work of pure gold,
verse 23, and he made his seven lamps and his snuffers and his
snuff dishes of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold made
he it and all the vessels thereof. Now, throughout the scriptures,
this is what that candlestick represents. It represents Christ,
the light of the world. And if you read Revelation chapters
1, 2, and 3, you will see clearly that it represents gospel churches. The churches of our Lord in every
generation. He represents this church right here. Brother Bill
Eldridge is with us. Sovereign Grace Church in Harrodsburg.
Brother Todd, folks over in Lexington. Todd's Road Church in Lexington.
Brother John, folks in Ashland. Sovereign Grace Church in Ashland,
Kentucky. All gospel churches. are represented in this as well.
Because it is through God's churches that Christ, the light of the
world, by his word and by his spirit, shines his light in this
dark, dark world. And the Lord Jesus is always
found walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks, the seven
lampstands. God the Holy Spirit and this
sacred word is that by which the light is diffused in the
world through the preaching of the gospel. Our Lord says the
mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand
and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches. Don't look at that word angel
as something mysterious. Simply means messenger. Messengers. I used to work at a bank. I got
a job at a bank when I was 17 years old. Youngest employee
the bank had ever hired. And you know what my job was?
It was lowest man on the totem pole. I was a messenger. I was an errand boy. That's all
I was. A messenger. That's what this
word angel means. Gospel preachers. The lowest
man on a totem pole. They don't have anything to do
but carry a message. Carry a message. They don't develop
a message. They're not responsible for what
becomes of the message. They have nothing to do with
what people do with the message. All they have to do is receive
the message from Him who is the message and deliver it to you. That's all. That's all. would
to God every preacher in the world would find out that's what
it's supposed to do. Get a message from God for his
people. Brother Scott Richardson put
it so well. Preaching. It's getting a message from God's
heart to my heart to your heart. And I can't do that. I can't
do that. But God can. God can. The angels are the stars of the churches
and the seven churches. The seven golden candlesticks
which thou sawest are the seven churches. David said, thy word
is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. The branches of the
candlestick are meant to show us that the light that shines
in our hearts by God, the Holy Spirit, by the word of His grace,
is Christ, the light of the world. You see, everything our souls
have in the sweet experience of God's grace, day by day and
forever, we have in Christ, by Christ, and with Christ. We had
these things by virtue of our union with Christ. We had them
by virtue of our Lord's efficacious work, and we had them in union
with the Redeemer, equally possessing those things with him. Our Lord
says, I'm the light of the world. And then he turned, looked at
Larry Brown and said, you're the light of the world. You're the light
of the world. You who are his are God's light
in this world. The candlestick. What a picture. That golden candlestick. But
do you know what a candlestick is? It holds candles. You've been to some of these
fancy weddings where they've got candelabras. Have you ever been to one at
night when the only thing in the building was a candelabra
lit with candles? Not with lights, with candles.
And try to see anything? Well, you can just see about
a foot from the candle. You can see the candle's lip, but you
can't see anything back. You can see a little bit. You can
see a little bit. The light of a candle is a faint,
dim, flickering light. And the best light we have in
this world is just dim light. Now we see through a glass and
dark glass. Man, that ought to take some of the starch out of
me and you too. What we know ain't much. It just
ain't much. I say that because I want you
to understand what knowledge we have is God-given knowledge. And it's just darkness compared with
the light that soon shall be ours. when we know even as we
are known, and we perceive all things rightly as God himself
has revealed them perfectly in his darling son. All right, let's
read Exodus 37, 25 through 28. Here we're told again about the
altar of incense. It too was made exactly as the
Lord commanded Moses. And he made the incense altar
of Shittim wood. The length of it was a cubit,
and the breadth of it a cubit. And it was four square. And two
cubits was the height of it, and the horns thereof were of
the same. And he overlaid it with pure
gold, both the top of it and the sides thereof round about,
and the horns of it. Also he made unto it a crown
of gold round about, and he made two rings of gold for it under
the crown thereof by two corners of it. upon the two sides thereof
to be places for the staves to bear it withal. And they made
the staves of shittum wood and overlaid them with gold." Our
Lord Jesus is both our altar of sacrifice and our altar of incense. Turn,
if you will, to Revelation chapter 8. He is our altar of sacrifice
by whom we have access to God, by whom we are given acceptance
with God from everlasting. We have an altar, an altar where
they have no right to eat, which serve in the tabernacle. What's
he saying? People talk about physical altars.
And if you've got an altar somewhere else, you don't worship Christ. Just that simple. We got old-fashioned
Baptist. We got an altar in front of our
church. If you do, you're old-fashioned pagans, not old-fashioned Baptists.
That's all. We don't have an altar. No material
altar. Well, I've got an altar in my
house. Well, if you do, you don't have one in glory. It's just
that simple. Just that simple. Brother Don,
are you saying that if you worship at a physical altar, you don't
worship Christ spiritually? No. God said it. Read it for
yourself. Hebrews 13.10. God said it plainly. You can't worship spiritually
and worship carnally. You can't worship in the kingdom
of God in grace and worship in the law. You can't do both. Christ
fulfilled the law. We have an altar where they have
no right to eat who serve in those carnal things in the tabernacle.
But here in Revelation chapter 8, we're told about this altar
of incense. Verse 3, and another angel came
and stood at the altar having a golden censer. And there was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with
the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before
the throne. So that it is Christ by whom
we have access to God. And it is Christ by whom we have
acceptance with God continually. And as we bring our prayers and
our praises and our thanksgiving to our God, and we offer Him
what we can of gratitude and devotion and sacrifice. He accepts
it by the sweet incense of Jesus Christ crucified as a sweet-smelling All he smells on me is Christ. Can you get that, my brother?
All he smells on you is Christ. I'm not certain. I don't know
much about this thing, but I'm told that if a lamb loses its
mom, only way you get another you to take that lamb, just about
the only way. Let's take one of her kids that's
been lost, that's died, skin it, put the skins of that dead
lamb on the lamb that's to be adopted. And that mama sniffs
that skin of that dead lamb, and she'll take and nurse and
raise that little lamb adopted just as those are old. The Lord God took his son, the
lamb, sacrificed him in my stead. and put all his righteousness
on me, and all God sees in me, and all God smells in me, and
all God hears in me is his own dear son. Now, I don't know how to explain
that, and I'm not going to debate it with anybody, but I'm telling
you, oh, it sails my boat through troubled waters. when I see nothing
of hope or consolation in me, and I find nothing to give me
any peace in me, I have every reason for peace and confidence
before God, because Christ is my incense. All right, let's
look at the last verse. Let's look at this holy anointing
oil and the sweet spice incense. And he made the holy anointing
oil and the pure incense of sweet spices according to the work
of the apothecary. The holy oil represents God the
Holy Spirit. the gifts and graces of the Spirit
that are ours by virtue of Christ's efficacious blood. We're told
that in Galatians chapter 3, verses 13 and 14. All the gifts
and graces of the Spirit come to us by virtue of Christ's shed
blood. But these sweet spices and this
anointing oil with which God's priests were anointed, with which
the sacrifices were accepted, with which the priest walked
in behind the veil into the holy of holies and found acceptance
with God. What is that? What is that? Why the holy anointing oil, the
unction we have, the unction we have from the Holy Spirit,
the unction we have not the Holy Spirit, the unction we have from
the Holy Spirit. What is it? What is that holy
unction, that sweet spice, that holy oil that makes us, sinners
though we are, fit to walk right in to God? Fit to walk into the Holy of
Holies with confidence and call God our Father? Well, that's
Christ in you. That's Christ in you. That holy
anointing which you have of God, the Holy One, Christ in you. And it's all done exactly according
to the pattern God showed Moses in the mount. Exactly according
to God's everlasting purpose and grace in Christ Jesus. Amen.