Jesus saves, don't you? Saves
from sins. He came into the world on purpose
to save his people. If you will, let's open our Bibles
first tonight to Exodus chapter 24. Exodus chapter 24. And reading the last verse in
this chapter, this is where I finished the message last Wednesday evening. And Moses went into the midst
of the cloud and get him up into the mount. And Moses was in the
mount 40 days and 40 nights. Moses in the mountain along with
God for 40 days and 40 nights. What was he doing? What was he
doing during those 40 days? Well, we know that it was during
these 40 days that God gave Moses the instructions for the tabernacle. And I'm sure that we've all been
impressed with this truth. We've heard this and been impressed
with it, that God spoke concerning the creation of the world in
just a few words, but yet the many paragraphs which are devoted
to the tabernacle. We have one chapter, Genesis
chapter one, about the creation of the world. But now, beginning
here with chapter 25, we have seven chapters in a row here
in Exodus that all deal with the tabernacle and the service
of the tabernacle. And that doesn't count the chapters
in the book of Leviticus, which also deal with the service of
the tabernacle. But it was during these 40 days
when Moses was alone with God that he was given the details,
the exactness of how the tabernacle was to be constructed. The pattern,
I believe is a word that is used maybe, the pattern of the tabernacle. And when the days ended, if you
turn over to chapter 31, At the end of these 40 days and
40 nights, God handed Moses the the tables of stone, if you notice
in verse 18 here in chapter 31. And he gave unto Moses, when
he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two
tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger
of God. And you know, when he came down
from the mountain, what happened, he found the children of Israel
dancing around a golden calf. and worshiping an idol saying,
behold your gods. And of course the commandments,
the tables were broken. But think about that one chapter
relating creation and seven chapters plus dealing with the tabernacle. That alone shows us the importance
of the tabernacle, the importance of how the tabernacle pictured
and pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ in so many ways. One of the commentators, he compared
the tabernacle to being like a children's Bible, a children's
Bible, which has pictures in it. And what we see here are
pictures in the construction of the tabernacle, which all
in some way, everything to do with the tabernacle in some way
revealed God's method of salvation through the person and work of
Jesus Christ. Tonight for a few minutes, I
want us to look at the five titles or the five names that God gives
of the tabernacle here in the book of Exodus. I refer to it
as simply the tabernacle. And yes, that's one of the names,
but there's actually five different designated ways of referring
to this tabernacle. And we want to look at them in
the chronological order in which they're given here in Exodus. If you will, in chapter 25 and
verse 8, here's the first word, the first term, and it is the
word sanctuary. Chapter 25 and verse 8. And let
them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. You see, this would be the place
where God would dwell, where God would manifest his presence
to the nation of Israel. And I looked up this word, this
word that's translated sanctuary, and this is a Hebrew word, which
is taken from the same word that is translated holy, when God
appeared to Moses in the bush that burned, in Exodus chapter
three and verse five. At the burning bush where Moses
turned aside to see this phenomenon, a bush that was burning but was
not consumed, and God told him, take off thy shoes. Take off
thy shoes. And I said, well, why? The place
whereon thou standest is holy ground. What made that ground
holy ground? I hear people talking about trips
to the holy land. You know, I guess all of us maybe
would like to make a trip and walk They say where Jesus walked. But you know, there's nothing
holy about that land. It was a place where he lived
and where he was crucified and where he was raised from the
dead and ascended back to the Father, yes. But the only time
that place could have been called holy is when he was there. the
land where Moses was. It was holy because God was there,
and it was the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel who was in the bush
was the messenger of God. That is, that's what the word
angel means, right? Messenger, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, he is the angel of God in the sense that he is the messenger
of God, the prophet of God. That's one of his offices as
a mediator, as a prophet. the presence of God. So this
is the first name or title that's given to the tabernacle, a sanctuary. And notice it would be a place
where God would dwell among them. Look at that verse again. And
let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Now I said that word comes from
the same word that's translated holy there in Exodus chapter
3, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. But this edifice, this building
that he's going to build according to God's instructions, remember
it's got two compartments. Everybody's familiar with the
sanctuary or the tabernacle. It has two compartments. And
each of those compartments is named holy. The first compartment
that the priest went into every day, the priest went in there,
they had to trim the lamps, and there was a golden altar of incense,
a table of showbread, and the candlestick there in that compartment. And they went in there every
day to minister. But you know, that was called
the holy place, sanctuary, holy place. Why? Because God dwelt
there. But in the most holy place, the
holy of holies, as we sometimes refer to it, that's where the
Ark of the Covenant was and the mercy seat. And only the high
priest went into that place. And he only went in there once
a year. And I always like the way in Hebrews it's recorded,
not without blood. He dare not go into there without
blood. But it was called the holy place
and the most holy place, the sanctuary of God. Sometimes people
refer to this room in which we're meeting tonight as a sanctuary.
I never call it that. I refer to it as an auditorium,
not just a big room, but a sanctuary. What this tells us and what this
shows us is there's nothing casual about worshiping God. There's
nothing trivial about worshiping God, approaching to God. He's
in the most holy place, the Shekinah. is in between the two cherubims
above the mercy seat. His manifested presence is there. And think about the instructions
that are given down to the spoons. The spoons that were used in the service, everything had
to be precise. The bowls that were used in the
service. And when I prepared this, I cannot
help but think of today where so many churches have introduced
into worship services what they call contemporary worship, casual
worship. There's nothing casual about
worshiping God, nothing. When we come together here, even
a small group like we are tonight on a Wednesday evening, we come
to worship him. I mean, there's nothing casual
about worshiping God. down to the very spoons that
were used. Everything had to be made according
to the pattern that God gave to Moses. So that's the first
term that we see. Now the next verse, verse nine,
we see it is referred to as the tabernacle. According to all
that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle. So first it
is referred to as a sanctuary because this is where God would
dwell among his people of old. And next it is called the tabernacle. Now this title tells us that
it was here that God would desire or did desire to dwell among
the people of Israel. And what is important here is
the place where God would put his tabernacle among the children
of Israel. Now you've got to go to the book
of Numbers. Let's go over there quickly to
Numbers chapter two to see this. But remember there's 12 tribes
of Israel now. Joseph received a double portion. Ephraim and Manasseh were his
sons, but the tribe of Levi was set apart. So there's 12 tribes
plus the tribe of Levi that were to made up the nation of Israel. Now God placed this tabernacle
right in the very center. where the tribes dwelt, where
they were to dwell. There was, right in the center
of the camp was the tabernacle. And then around the tabernacle,
the Levites pitched their tents. And then you had, on the four
sides, three tribes on every side. And they all assembled
according to one of the tribes of Israel. Interesting that the
tribe in front of the tabernacle, if we could say there was a front
to the tabernacle, it faced east, Judah, the tribe of Judah, the
standard of Judah was placed there. And we know that our Lord
Jesus Christ, he came from the tribe of Judah. But in Numbers
chapter two and verse 17, we read, Then the tabernacle of the congregation
shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of
the camp. As they encamp, so shall they
set forward every man in his place by their standards. Every tribe had its own standard,
but there was four principal tribes, one in the east, the
west, north, and the south, of course, and the other two tribes
in along with them. But there would be the term tabernacle. It was deemed or placed here
in the center to show, to testify that the life of a believer is
centered around Christ. He's the center of my life. He's the center of your life.
We love Him more than anyone else. Our affections are toward
Him more than anyone else. Why? Because He loved us and
He's our Savior. Our life is centered around the
Lord Jesus Christ, or at least it must be, it should be, not
around Anything else or anyone else but around Jesus Christ,
our Lord. This tabernacle was right in
the middle of the camp and the Israelites encamped around about
it. Our life is centered on Christ
because he is our life. We don't have any life apart
from Christ. There is no life apart from Christ. He is our life. When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, the scriptures tell us. Now,
the third word is the word tent. Look with me back in Exodus,
if you will, chapter 26. And we're looking at these words,
these five words and the order in which they're given here in
Exodus. So first we have the sanctuary,
and then we have the tabernacle. Now in chapter 26, we will see
it is referred to as a tent. In verse 11, And thou shalt make
50 tacks of brass and put the tacks into the loops and couple
the tent together that it may be one, the tent. And also in
verse 36 in that chapter we see, and thou shalt make an hanging
for the door of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine
twine linen. It's called a tent. Now, it's
called a tent, no doubt to emphasize that it was just temporary. You
see, from the very beginning, this was a tent. It was never
intended by God to be a permanent thing. It was a temporary thing. And we know that it lasted for
some time. And then, because David's heart
was to build a temple, But God would not allow David to build
that temple, but let his son Solomon, but even that temple
after a while, it was destroyed. So it was always a temporary
thing, this tent. It was temporary until the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what he said, destroy
this tabernacle. And that word tabernacle, in
John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. The word that is translated
here dwelt, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, it
literally means to tent. to encamp among us, the Lord
Jesus Christ. This tent, this tabernacle, and
yes, even the temple, which was a more permanent building, of
course, but both of them were just temporary until the Lord
Jesus Christ came. and tabernacled among us, lived
here. Paul says, we know that if this
tent or tabernacle, let me read that in 2 Corinthians chapter
five. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and
house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. So we live in
a tent. Our souls live in this tent,
this body. And we know that when this body
ends in death, we have a building eternal in the heavens. And that
is the tabernacle that God has prepared for us, the city that
he's prepared for us. All right, back in Exodus 4.
Designated name for this is the Tabernacle of Congregation. You see this in chapter 29. Exodus chapter 29 and verse 42. This shall be a continual burn
offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tabernacle
of the Congregation. So we've got sanctuary, tabernacle,
tent, and now fourthly, the tabernacle of the congregation. And this
especially emphasizes the importance of this tabernacle. Because this is where God would
meet with his people. And this is where his people
would meet with God. The tabernacle of the congregation. They were to come to God here.
And they were to come to God, to approach unto God through
the services of the tabernacle. We know that the great altar,
the altar where the animals were burned or sacrificed and offered
up unto God, that was a very important part of worshiping
the Lord. to bring an animal and present
that animal there at the tabernacle, and man would lay his hands on
that animal, showing that he was the one who was guilty, and
transfer his guilt to the animal, an innocent victim. What a beautiful
picture, right, of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who knew no sin. was made sin for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our sins were
laid upon Him, the innocent one. And that work of substitution
was pictured day after day after day here at the tabernacle. It was a tabernacle of the congregation. This is where the people would
come to worship God, to meet with God. And yet none of them,
not one person among the Israelites could ever go in the tabernacle.
They could go in the courtyard, but they could not go into the
tabernacle. Only the Levites, the priests,
were allowed to go in there. And like I've already said, only
the high priest into the most holy place. And that's where
the Lord Jesus Christ is today. And he's our great high priest.
And he makes intercession for us. How does he make intercession? Just by being there. It's about
being there, and the Prince of the Nails still in his hands.
He makes intercession for us continually before God. If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours
only, but for the whole world. There's only one Savior, right?
There's only one sacrifice that puts away sin, and that's the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, the last word, the
last title is found in chapter 38 of Exodus. Exodus chapter
38 and verse 21. This is the psalm of the tabernacle,
even of the tabernacle of testimony. The tabernacle of testimony. What a beautiful and fitting
title was this, the Tabernacle of Testimony, because the entire
tabernacle testified. It testified of Christ, the sacrifices
which were offered there, the services that were rendered there.
It testified to the greatness and the graciousness of the Lord
our God, the goodness of God. And you can go through the tabernacle,
study through the tabernacle, and you'll see that each of the
seven pieces of what they call the furniture of the tabernacle,
they all picture Christ in some way. But if you had been there
in the camp, And in approach to the tabernacle, the first
thing that you would have seen is there's only one way in. There's only one way in to the
courtyard. And how does that picture the
Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I am the way, the truth. And there are not many ways.
That's what false religion teaches, isn't it, today, and what Satan
has propagated lies that there are many ways, but we're all
going to the same place. No, there's only one way. And
that was manifested right in the very beginning with this
tabernacle. There's only one door into the
courtyard, only one door into the tabernacle. It wasn't really
a door like we think of a door. It was a cloth that you raised
up and went through. But yes, inside the first compartment,
it was dark. Think of it. I mean, no light
in there. There are no windows. But there
was a light, wasn't there? A candelabra. Seven lights, seven
pictured perfection, right? Completeness. What is that? That's Christ, isn't it? He's
the light of the world. If a person isn't following Christ,
he's walking in darkness. That's what he said. I am the
light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. And the bread, the table of showbread
there. What is that picture to us? But
he who said, whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
hath everlasting life. He's the bread of life. And the
golden altar of incense, we know, pictures him and his intercessory
work. One commentator that I read said
that the tabernacle is the Old Testament version of the New
Testament text. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. That's what this tabernacle
testified to, God's love. and God giving his only begotten
son to die in the place. And whosoever, whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. May the Lord bless his word to
us here this evening.