how you answer them, answer them
rightly. At first they seem childish,
silly, foolish, and then you start to think about them a little
bit and you realize that the questions might have been very
good, asked with simplicity, with no duplicity and sincerity,
profound questions. The first one I remember Faith
asking me, she had been playing by herself for a while, My office
was off from the living room at home and she came walking
out to the office and just stood there beside my desk and she
said, Daddy, where does God live? That's the question I want to
answer tonight. Where does God live? Turn to Exodus chapter
25. Exodus chapter 25. Where does
God live? The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering
of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart. Ye shall take
my offering, and this is the offering which ye shall take
of them. God says, Tell every man to bring
me an offering, and tell him to bring it with a willing heart,
and then he tells him what to bring. You shall take of them
gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet,
and fine linen, and goat's hair, and ram skins dyed red, and badger
skins, and shittum wood, and oil for light, spices for anointing
oil, and for sweet incense. onyx stones and stones to be
set in the ephod and in the breastplate and bring and let them make me
a sanctuary that I may dwell among them according to all that
I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern
of all the instruments thereof even so shall ye make it. The Lord commanded Moses to gather
materials from the children of Israel. The materials were gifts
that involved tremendous sacrifice and thoughtfulness. But the gifts
were to be given with a willing heart, not grudgingly, not desiring
to get something from God, but willingly. Gifts to be given
only by the children of Israel, and gifts that God would use
to make a sanctuary, a tabernacle, in which he would dwell within. Now using these gifts, Moses
was required to make a sanctuary, an earthly dwelling place for
the Lord God, and he was required to make it exactly according
to the pattern that God gave him while he was with him in
the mount these forty days. Now, have you ever taken time
to notice that there is more written about the tabernacle
than there is about any other singular subject in all of Scripture? More written about the tabernacle
than about anything else except, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ
of whom the whole book speaks. More about the tabernacle than
about the law. More about the tabernacle than
about prophecy. More about the tabernacle than
about last things. More about the tabernacle than
about eternity, heaven, hell, or any of those things. The Lord
God tells the whole story of creation in just two chapters.
Genesis 1 and 2. Just two chapters. Tells it all.
But when it comes to speak of the tabernacle, He begins here
in Exodus 25 and doesn't finish until you get to the end of chapter
40. There's a brief break in chapters
32 and 33 and 34 in which we have much instruction. But God
took two chapters to tell us everything he has to reveal about
creation. He takes 11 chapters, I'm sorry,
13 chapters to tell us about the tabernacle. Why do you suppose
he takes so much space in the volume of scripture to tell us
about the tabernacle? It is because the tabernacle
is a picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ and our salvation
by him. It is a picture not only of the
person of our Redeemer and his work, It is a picture of all
that he accomplishes for us in the deliverance of our souls
from sin and death, from the curse of the law, and from everlasting
judgment. The tabernacle portrays the whole
of God's work of grace. The whole of it. And so he takes
great detail. He describes it with elaborate
detail so that we should not miss the instruction given in
the time. Again and again, the tabernacle
is mentioned in the scriptures. In fact, if you read the book
of Hebrews and try to understand it, It's impossible to understand
that book until you go back to the language used in Exodus and
Leviticus, where God describes the tabernacle and the Levitical
service under the law. If you read about the visions
that Isaiah had and Ezekiel had, the visions that Zechariah had,
even the visions that John had. They are visions having to do
with the tabernacle. They are something represented
in the tabernacle by which God conveyed the gospel to those
prophets and to his apostle. The tabernacle is central in
the revelation of God. It is essential, central to the
whole of the book of God because it describes everything God does
for us in redemption. The word referring to the tabernacle
here actually has three meanings. The word I said, the picture
of the tabernacle, really has three meanings. The type has
three meanings. Let me give them to you. The
tabernacle is used in the scripture to refer to God's dwelling place
in heaven. It is used in scripture to refer
to the incarnate Christ. And it is used in scripture to
refer to God dwelling in us. First, the tabernacle is a type
of heaven itself, a visible illustration of that heavenly place in which
God has his dwelling. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews
chapter 9. We'll begin reading at verse
21. Moses sprinkled with blood, both
the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all
things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Back in our text in verse 8,
the tabernacle was made to be a sanctuary for God, a dwelling
place for Jehovah, a symbolic place representing God's dwelling. It was an earthly picture of
a heavenly reality. Where does God live? He lives
in heaven. He sits on his throne. He is
the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. That's the first answer
to the question. Heaven is God's sanctuary. It
is the place of his residence. It is the place where God manifests
himself completely. The place of his manifest glory
where the Lord God makes himself known. If you want to know a
man, If you really want to know Him, if you can get the folks
who live with Him to tell you about Him, you'll get to know
Him. Because the ones who live with Him are the only ones who
really know Him. A man is known where he dwells. God Almighty makes Himself known
in the glory of Heaven. Oh, what it shall be for us when
we are with Him and without sin. beholding our God face to face,
made to know even as we are known. Now we see, as it were, through
a glass darkly, then face to face. Heaven is God's sanctuary,
His residence, the place of His glorious manifestation. Solomon
confessed when he asked the Lord to come and dwell in the temple
that he built. He said, Behold, and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee. Jeremiah said, A glorious high
throne from the beginning is the place of thy sanctuary. In
the visions of Ezekiel and in John, they both saw the Lord
sitting on a throne. They saw a throne. And they saw
one sitting on the throne. And the one sitting on the throne
is like a man. And that man is himself the incarnate
God-man, our Savior. Isaiah saw the same thing. And
our Lord Jesus said, Isaiah saw me when he saw my glory sitting
on my throne. That's the picture of God dwelling
in the tabernacle. Who is like unto the Lord our
God, who dwelleth on high? The psalmist cried. John said,
After that I looked, And behold, the temple of the tabernacle
of the testimony in heaven was opened. Heaven is the tabernacle,
the dwelling place of God. Second, turn to John chapter
1, verse 14. Very familiar text, and we'll
look at it again in a little more detail in a minute, but
look at it just briefly there. Speaking of the incarnation of
our Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty taking on Himself our nature,
taking our nature into union with himself. God the Son, the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. If you have a marginal
reference, you'll notice the word is tabernacled. The Word
was made flesh and tabernacled among us. Jesus Christ, in his
first advent to this earth, came here in the humiliation of our
nature to suffer in humiliation that he may be exalted in our
nature and glorified in our nature as the God-man, our mediator.
In our nature, God was in Christ, reconciling the world of his
elect to himself. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse
18, if you want to look at it, This is what God did in giving
His Son in our nature. He sent His Son here, and in
Him performed the work of reconciliation. Now while that work was consummated
at Calvary, don't ever get the notion that the work of redemption
was done alone when the Savior cried, it is finished. Our Lord
Jesus was reconciling the world of His elect to God, reconciling
the world to Himself, all the while he dwelt upon this earth,
even as he is right now. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18, Now
all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He's committed to us this service,
this ministry. We beseech men to be reconciled
to God. We call sinners to be reconciled
to God. That's the reason he left us
here, was that by our hands, through our service to him, we
might be instruments in his hands for the reconciling of his people.
Oh, my soul, what a high honor. What a high honor. I was talking
to Brother Larry today, I sent him a note. I get notes sometimes
from folks who use the web pages and try to encourage him as I
do you, anyone else who does anything for the cause of Christ.
He said, well, if just one hears the message, that's worth everything.
That's it. If just one does. My soul. Imagine
that. God allow you to do something
by which one sinner is converted to Him. Oh, what a high privilege. He's committed to this assembly,
to you and to me, the ministry, the word of reconciliation. What is that word? To wit that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The tabernacle was not something
that originated in the minds of Israel. It's not something
that Moses devised. It was designed by God himself. And so it is with the manhood
of our Redeemer and the redemption he accomplished. The human body,
which enshrined eternal deity, was formed in the womb of the
Virgin by God the Holy Spirit. And when he came into this world,
he says to his father, a body hast thou prepared me. A body
prepared by God, in which God dwells, in which he would accomplish
redemption. This body prepared to be a body
suitable to be a sacrifice to God by which reconciliation would
be made. And third, the tabernacle is
a picture of Christ dwelling in us. Turn to John 14. It typifies God's dwelling place
in heaven, and it typifies God dwelling in Christ. Where does
God live? Here's the third thing. He lives
in his people. I don't think I can ever grasp
the meaning of these words with any sense of fullness at all.
But somehow, mysteriously, wondrously, in the work of regeneration,
in the new birth, by the power and grace, by the operations
of God the Holy Spirit, God himself takes up permanent residence
in you. God himself takes up permanent
residence in his people. John 14, 16. The Lord Jesus says, I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he
may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, But you know him, for he dwelleth in you, and shall be
in you. He dwells in you now, and he's
going to stay there. I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you. Look at verse 23. Jesus answered
and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and
my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make
our abode with him. This is the hope of glory, Paul
says, Christ in you. God Almighty, by a marvelous
work of grace, causes Christ to live in us. God comes to dwell
in man when we are made partakers of the divine nature. Turn to
1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3. He speaks of faith in Christ.
This commandment of God that we believe on His Son. In verse
23, this is His commandment. First John 3.23, that we should
believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is, that we
should believe everything the book reveals about His Son. His
name is who He is. And love one another as He gave
us commandment. And He that keepeth His commandments
dwelleth in Him, and He in Him. Do you believe on Him? If you
believe on Him, it's because you dwell in Him, and He dwells
in you. If you believe on Him, it's because
God has taken up residence in you. He who is life has come
to you, and now you have life. And hereby we know that He abideth
in us by the Spirit which He hath given us. You are the temple
of God, the dwelling place of the Almighty. Once far from God
and dead in sin, no light my heart could see, but in God's
Word the light I found. Now Christ liveth in me. As lives the flower within the
seed, as in the cone the tree, so praise the God of truth and
grace. Christ liveth in me. All right, here's the third thing.
The tabernacle was God's dwelling place. As such, it portrayed
and typified heaven. It portrayed and typified the
incarnate Christ. It portrayed and typified Christ
dwelling in us. But as I said earlier, it also
portrayed the whole work of redemption. Everything in the tabernacle
portrays our Savior. Now, we're going to take the
time to look at these things in detail, the Lord willing,
over the next several months. And I urge you to read the rest
of this book, Exodus 25 through 40, and read it carefully. Read
it at one setting several times, at least for chapters 25 through
40. And look over this model of the tabernacle and lock things
in your mind so that as you're going through it, you have a
picture of the thing in your mind. Everything in the tabernacle,
all the services, all the rituals, all the sacrifices, all the boards,
All the curtains, all the coverings, all the furnishings speak of
Jesus Christ, redemption and grace flowing to sinners by Him. Everything. And I'm sure when
we get done, there's going to be a whole lot more left unsaid
than has been said. And we're just going to be touching
the surface because I don't understand much of it, but I want you to
see what's portrayed here as God Himself has given us great
detail in the Revelation. The high priest That's Christ,
our priest. The sacrifice, that's Christ,
our Passover sacrifice for us. The brazen altar, that's Christ,
our altar, by whom we approach and draw nigh to God. The golden
laver, that's Christ, the fountain open to sinners by the Spirit
of God for cleansing. The golden candlestick is Christ,
the light of the world. The table of showbread is Christ,
the bread of life. The altar of incense is Christ,
our acceptance with God, by whom we draw near to God. And the
ark and its mercy seat is Christ, our propitiation, that one by
whom we stand before God without sin, just and justified. In this tabernacle, upon the
mercy seat, the Lord God meets his people. The ark of the covenant
was not merely a throne where God manifested His holiness. It manifests that. But the Ark
of the Covenant is God's throne whereby He manifests His grace.
It's described this way in Hebrews chapter 4. Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. If men and women see God
on His throne, that's good. But seeing God on His throne
to terrify, seeing God on His throne to overhaul, seeing God
on His throne to cause you to tremble is nothing gracious. But when you see God in Christ
sitting on His throne, and grace flowing freely from His throne,
and you behold that sovereign throne on which God sits as the
throne of grace, the mercy seat, then you draw near to God with
reverence and with joy. In all the offerings and sacrifices,
God shows himself to be just and merciful. Just in the punishment
of sin, and merciful to the sinner who comes to him with the sacrifice
he has required. God is revealed here not to terrify,
but rather to draw sinners. He's revealed here in such a
way as not to cause anyone to tremble, but in such a way as
to say, come near. The way is open. Open by this
sacrifice. Open by this blood. Open by this
mercy seat. Here's another thing. I want
you to see that of all that the tabernacle typified, Christ is
the fulfillment of the type. The key to the tabernacle, as
everything else in scripture, is Jesus Christ himself. Arthur
Pink wrote, as a whole and in each of its parts, the tabernacle
foreshadowed the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Now here in
John chapter 1 verse 14, I want you to go back there. John chapter
1 verse 14. Here is a reference to the incarnation
of our Lord Jesus. The language that John uses,
as I pointed out just a few minutes ago, takes us back to the language
of Exodus chapter 25. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, tabernacled among us. And while He tabernacled here
in the flesh among us men, We beheld His glory, the glory as
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. There are numerous things here
that demonstrate the work of our Redeemer. The tabernacle
was a temporary dwelling place. It was here for the children
of Israel to use while they were in the wilderness. When they
came into Haman's land, God allowed Solomon to build a temple, a
permanent place of worship. But all the while they were moving
about in the wilderness, they had this temporary structure
they carried with them from place to place and set it up wherever
they went for the worship of God. They used it for 35 years,
just a little bit less than 35 years. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came down here and tabernacled on the earth just a little less
than 35 years. He came here temporarily, in
human flesh, in humiliation, to accomplish the redemption
portrayed in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the most common,
ordinary, simple structure as far as all outward appearance
is concerned. If you look at this thing covered
on the very outside, covering the whole thing, if you pull
the cover up, there's that piece of brown cloth there representing
badger skins. Who on earth would want to go
in that place? Who would think about God being in that place?
Who could imagine that this is the only place in the world where
sinners could come to God? This is the only place in the
world where God would meet with men. In a tabernacle? In that little old tent that
those folks pick up and carry with them wherever they go? That
bunch of vagabond Jews? Surely not! But inside, Everything
was glorious. What a picture of our Redeemer.
To the eye of man, there was nothing about Him. No comeliness,
no beauty that we should desire Him. But in Him resides all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him is forever all that God
is. The tabernacle was God's dwelling
place, and Christ is God's dwelling place. The tabernacle is the
place where God met with men. He said in Exodus 25, you don't
have to turn there, just listen to this, verses 21 and 22, thou
shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark
thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there
will I meet with thee and commune with thee. God Almighty says,
I'll meet you the mercy seat. I'll meet you where blood atonement
covers the broken law. I'll meet you between the cherubs
on the mercy seat. That's where he met Isaiah. That's
where he met Ezekiel. And that's where he still meets
sinners, is in Christ who is our mercy seat, our propitiation. The tabernacle is the only place
where God's law was preserved intact. You remember when Moses
received the first tables of the law? Israel had already transgressed
against God in base idolatry, and Moses threw the tables down
and broke them. God called him back up into the
mountain and wrote two more tables of the law. And he said, now
Moses, take these unbroken and put them in the tabernacle. And
in that tabernacle, inside the Holy of Holies, inside the Ark
of the Covenant, underneath the mercy seat, underneath the blood,
where the blood atonement was sprinkled, where God's glory
was manifest. There, the law of God remained
unbroken, in perfect harmony with God himself. There and there
alone, it is honored and magnified. There and there alone, it stands
as God gave it, holy and perfect. In Christ alone, by Christ alone,
the law of God is magnified and made honorable. He alone rendered
obedience unto God. He alone perfectly obeyed God. He alone has kept and established
the law. And he alone is the Lord our
righteousness. The tabernacle was the place
where the priest family was fed. In Leviticus chapter 6, God gave
commandment. He told the priestly family,
the children of Levi, to feed off the sacrifices, off the things
that remain of the sacrifices of Israel. And you know where
he told them to eat? He specifically said, y'all eat
in the courtyard of the tabernacle. Y'all eat in the court of the
tabernacle of the God of Israel. That's his specific command.
Why there? Why there? Because that's where
the table of showbread is. And that's where Christ is represented. And there is now a priesthood. A royal priesthood. A priesthood
made up of every believer. You mean, Brother Don, we are
priests? Yeah, we're priests. If we're
in Christ, we are. He's made us priests unto God.
Now we don't wear silly priestly costumes. We are priests. We don't have to have a costume.
We're priests. We don't have to pretend that
we are. Priests. Who are priests? They are people
who live in the holy place. They're people who live with
God all the time. Who do business directly with
God all the time. people who have free access to
God all the time, and they feed in his court on the bread of
life, Jesus Christ the Redeemer. Oh, no wonder, Peter said, unto
you therefore which believe, he is precious. And in that tabernacle,
over here on this side, that white linen fence around there,
seven feet high, has got just one opening, just one gate, just
one door. The only way you can get from
outside into the Holy of Holies is through that door. Christ
said, I am the door. He's the only door there is.
I am the door. If you would come to God, you
must come by Christ, believing Him, trusting Him, worshiping
Him. The materials of the tabernacle. I've never seen this before.
Declare that Christ is Lord over the whole earth and that all
the earth shall at last be brought to worship and give glory to
our God. Do you realize that he took materials
from every realm of creation to be used in the tabernacle?
He took minerals. and he took vegetation, and he
took animals, and he even brought men, and said, everything's going
to come and honor me. And there is a day appointed
by God when Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, shall make restitution
of all things to God. All things shall at last give
praise and honor to God our Savior in Christ where God dwells. One more thing. the tabernacle,
Moses tells us in chapter 35. Turn over there if you will.
Exodus 35, I think it is. Yeah, Exodus chapter 35. Moses tells us that this tabernacle
was made, constructed by men, verse 30, filled with the Spirit
of God. Moses said to the children of
Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah,
the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he hath filled
him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, and
in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. The tabernacle given by God's
purpose in Exodus 25 through chapter 31. Moses is given a
revelation of the pattern in the mount. Then in Exodus 32,
33, and 34, Israel committed a terrible transgression and
judgment falls upon them and they stand in great need of redemption. And then in Exodus 35 through
40, the tabernacle is actually constructed of which the blueprints
were given beginning in chapter 25. That's a pretty good picture
of God's purpose of grace. The Lord Jesus was set up from
everlasting as our surety. He is that pattern revealed to
Moses in the mount after which the tabernacle was made. But
man, though redemption and salvation is accomplished for us from eternity,
man must be made to know his need of Christ in the experience
of grace. And then Adam fell, and we fell
in the transgression of our father Adam. And the Lord Jesus comes
at the appointed time of love, and he fulfills the purpose of
God's grace in the experience of grace for us in time. And
this is by God, the Holy Spirit, who takes the things of Christ
and shows them to us. Where does God live? God lives
in heaven. God lives in Christ, our mediator. God lives in me. God lives in
you, who are his. Oh, Son of God, come, take up
your residence and chosen sinners this hour. For Christ's sake,
I pray. Amen. Let's have a hymn for religion.