“How to Be in God's Presence (Exodus 25-27)" | 6/18/22
Exodus 25-27 | 6/18/23 | Will DuVal
Who’s the most IMPRESSIVE person you’ve ever shared a room with?
When I studied abroad in Italy, I got to see the POPE (but I’m not Catholic, so… meh.)
When the PGA Championship came to Bellerive in 2018, I was like 20 ft away from Tiger Woods (but I’m not a golfer either).
But I AM a basketball fan, and this April, I got to see LeBron play in person (and LOSE, to my Grizzlies!). So now I’ve seen the SECOND greatest player ever on the hardwood, and the GOAT on the DIAMOND, cuz I saw MJ play for the Birmingham Barons during his first “retirement”.
More significantly, I got to sit under arguably the greatest preacher of our generation, the late Tim Keller. In fact, my first year at the Gospel Coalition conference, I almost bumped right INTO him, as Tim was slipping out a secret back exit while I was hustling down the sidewalk to make the next session. I don’t usually get star-struck, but I’ll admit - I was pretty dazzled.
Last week in our study through Exodus, we learned how to be in relationship with God, as we considered the confirmation of His covenant with Israel in ch24. This week, in chs25-27, we probe even deeper and discover what it takes to be in God’s very presence, as we consider God’s instructions for the CON-struction of His tabernacle. The Hebrew word for “tabernacle” - mishkan - comes from the word for “dwell”, and it refers to the TENT in which God DWELLED with His people in the OT. Here’s a helpful OVERVIEW of the tabernacle from commentator Philip Ryken (814, 846, 850):
“The tabernacle was a tent approximately fifteen feet wide by forty-five feet long. It was surrounded by… an area of a little more than 10,000 sq.ft [or ~4 tennis courts]. In the courtyard outside the tabernacle stood a bronze altar for making sacrifices and a large basin for ceremonial cleansing. The tabernacle [itself] was divided into two rooms. The outer room, which was called ‘the Holy Place’, was furnished with a golden lampstand, an altar for incense, and a table of bread. The inner room was called ‘the Most Holy Place’ or “the Holy of Holies.’ This was the sacred space that housed the ark of the covenant [where God’s presence resided]... This fulfilled the promise of the covenant, in which God declared that he would be with his people to be their God. What better way to [prove] that… than to pitch his tent right in the middle of their camp… [The tabernacle] was the place where earth touched Heaven… when God came to live with his people, he brought Heaven down with him… [Thus] the tabernacle was a microcosm of the UNIVERSE. Inside was Heaven, and outside was earth, with God at the center of it all… [It] was the most important place in the world… the one place… where people could enter God’s presence.”
That’s why these chapters are so important: they showed God’s people how to be in the presence of GOD, who is INFINITELY more impressive than the Pope, the President, or Air Jordan. We’re talking about the Creator and Sustainer of the COSMOS!
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However, I will warn you: we’re gonna cover chs 25, 26 AND 27 this morning - 96 verses, exclusively devoted to describing in elaborate detail the BLUEPRINTS for the building of this tabernacle complex. They say a picture is worth a thousand words - I’ve already showed you TWO, and I’ll show you a half dozen or so more, while I’m READING the text for us, to hopefully help you fight the temptation to tune out this morning. But amidst all the measurements and the minutiae, please don’t miss the forest for the trees; the overarching point and significance of this passage is that in the tabernacle, God is providing for His people a place where they can be in His very PRESENCE, with implications for how YOU AND I are able to be in God’s presence.
But it requires 6 things; there are 6 sub-sections to these 3 chapters, each of which reveals something distinct about what it TAKES to be in God’s presence. Let’s dive in…
#1 - For starters, being in God’s presence required A CONTRIBUTION. (sanctuary contributions; 25:1-9) God was giving Israel the tabernacle as a place - THE place - to meet with Him, but first they had to BUILD it. And before they could even do THAT, they had to muster the RESOURCES for the job; sooo… ch25…
“The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, 5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”
2 things to highlight here:
First, let’s appreciate that God ALLOWS us to contribute at ALL. God doesn’t NEED us; the entire EARTH is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Ps 24:1). And He’s omnipotent; God could have sent down a ready-made tabernacle from heaven if He wanted to. But He didn’t DO that - not because HE needs our “charitable giving”, but because WE do! We need to grow in our generosity, so God graciously gives US opportunities to give back to Him, from that which HE has provided to us in the first place! Today, on Father’s Day, many of us dads will receive gifts purchased FOR us with our OWN money. And yet, because we’re GOOD dads, we will respond just like our HEAVENLY father does, when we “give” him “our” gifts - God LOVES it, our giving brings a SMILE to His face. And God in turn BLESSES us for it.
Second, God doesn’t force us to give; He INVITES us to. V2 says “From every man whose heart moves him”. The NT puts it this way: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). And cheerful we are, when we consider ALL that GOD has given US! His grace COMPELS us to give; Ryken reminds us of all that God had already done for Israel (804-5) here: “God had rescued them from slavery. He had showered them with treasure [remember, GOD had blessed them with the gold and silver, the linens and spices, when he sent the plagues on Egypt and made them so terrified that they actually PAID Israel to leave in the end! God] had delivered them from their enemies. He had led them through the wilderness. He had provided water to drink and food to eat. He had given them his law and shown them his glory. He had provided atonement for their sins through the blood of his covenant. Out of the rich abundance of his grace, he had done everything necessary for their salvation. And when they reflected on what God had done, their hearts swelled with gratitude.”
So they didn’t just give; they gave their very BEST - one scholar I read estimated this building project cost in the neighborhood of $15 million (David Guzik, “Exodus Conversations”); others speculate the gold ALONE was worth north of $40 million. In any case, the point is: the Israelites didn’t hesitate to CONTRIBUTE it, because they knew God was WORTH it (and that it all rightfully belonged to Him anyway!).
What’s the application for US? I hope that THIS place is one where YOU are able to come and meet with God every week. And I ALSO hope you realize it ain’t CHEAP. Maybe not 40 million, but the new HVAC units are gonna run us around 40 thousand. It’s gonna be more than that to fix Joy Hall so our senior saints can get in and out safely, and so we can use the kitchen without breaking a dozen fire codes. And we STILL owe $550k on our mortgage. And yet, God allows us - and INVITES us - to give back to Him, from what He has so generously given US, that we might contribute to the work that HE is doing at and through this church.
#2 - Being in God’s presence requires COMPLIANCE. (ark of covenant; 25:10-22) Obedience. We read in v10 now (and I’m gonna switch over to PICTURES…):
10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.
17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
Now, the order of God’s instructions will move from MOST sacred to least sacred, with the ark of the covenant here being the single most important item in the whole tabernacle complex, because as God himself declared in v22: “There I will meet with you… above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim”. So the ARK served as God’s earthly THRONE.
And because it was so sacred, just look at all the specifications for making the ark that Israel needed to comply with:
*God tells them what to MAKE it out of (acacia wood)
*Exactly how BIG He wants it (roughly 4ft x 3 ft x 3 ft… little smaller than the pulpit here)
*How to DECORATE it.
*Even how to CARRY it. As a matter of fact, centuries later when King David was having the ark transported to Jerusalem, the Bible recalls the tragic story of a poor man named Uzzah (2 Sam 6), who tried to steady the ark when the oxen stumbled and it began to fall off the cart. But the moment Uzzah touched the ark, he DIED on the spot. Because even more defiling to God’s holy presence than the DIRT, is our SIN. And the ark never should’ve been on the cart in the FIRST place - that’s why there were POLES; it was to be CARRIED.
See, details MATTER to God. And to PROVE it, he told Moses to put INSIDE the ark “the testimony that I shall give you”; the tablets on which God carved the 10 Commandments, as further reminder, of how important Israel’s compliance, their OBEDIENCE was. Remember, it’s a 2-way covenant now: “I will be your God… IF you’ll obey me.”
And as even FURTHER reminder, ABOVE the ark sat two CHERUBIM. Which symbolized THREE things in the Bible:
First - HOLINESS. Psalm 99 proclaims: “The Lord… sits enthroned upon the cherubim… Holy is he!” The cherubim are God’s holy angels, and they serve as God’s heavenly THRONE. How much holier still, then, must GOD be!
Second - WORSHIP; cherubim are the creatures in Revelation 4 that surround God’s throne day and night shouting “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the Lord God Almighty”.
And third - they symbolize WARNING. Ryken explains (817): “Cherubim are special angels [that] remain in God’s presence to deny access [to God] by anything unholy. They are the palace guards for the King of kings.” They first show up in Scripture in Genesis ch3, after Adam and Eve sin and get kicked out of the Garden, God placed the cherubim at the East entrance to the Garden “to guard the way [back] to the tree of life” (3:24). As the children’s book The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross puts it: “The angels were like a big KEEP OUT sign.” So the cherubim above the ark represented God’s holiness and our calling to obedience in worshiping Him, in ch26, God’s gonna command Israel to embroider cherubim into the VEIL that separated the “Holy Place” from the HOLY of Holies, to serve as a big “KEEP OUT” sign. In fact, Israel spent all this time and effort and GOLD on the Holy of Holies, and the ark of the covenant, but soon enough only ONE man - the high priest - was even allowed to enter into it, and only on one DAY of the year at that - Yom Kippur.
Why? Because of man’s UN-holiness, our LACK of compliance, with God’s Law, inside that ark. And the only way that even the “holy” priest was allowed to enter on the high holy day, was by offering a SACRIFICE. Leviticus 16 describes how the high priest, on Yom Kippur, would make a “sin offering”, and then sprinkle the blood on the MERCY SEAT, to make atonement for the peoples’ sin. Don’t you see the powerful symbolism here: God is enthroned in His holiness above, upon the cherubim… He has forged a covenant relationship with US through His LAW, inside the box, down below… but because of our SIN, the only way we’re able to enter into God’s presence - the only way He can even LOOK upon us in His holiness - is through the atoning BLOOD that must be placed there, between us. Because “without… blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22).
Friends: the design of the ark of the covenant is ABOUT as clear a picture of the GOSPEL as you’re gonna find in the entire OT: 1) God is HOLY; 2) We are SINFUL; and 3) We can only have ACCESS to Him, relationship with Him, be in God’s PRESENCE, by means of a SACRIFICE. Jesus IS our “mercy seat”. But I get ahead of myself.
#3 - Being in God’s presence requires CELEBRATION OF GOD’S PROVISION. (table for bread; 25:23-30); V23:
23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. 25 And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. 27 Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. [Remember, they’re traveling through the wilderness, so ALL this stuff has gotta be transportable.] 28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. 29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence ON the table before me regularly.”
We’ll be super quick here: though most of this section describes the TABLE, what makes the TABLE so special is really what’s ON it: the “bread of the PRESENCE”. It was “baked the day before the Sabbath. Then on the Sabbath the priests would EAT the old bread and set the new bread on the table in 12 loaves (1 Sam 21:6).” (Ryken, 828). So it symbolized THREE things:
First, the manna, from ch16, with which God fed Israel for 40 years while they wandered in the wilderness. Like the manna, the priests baked new bread each week as a reminder of God’s faithfulness in providing for them, and of their humble DEPENDENCY on Him, day by day.
Second, eating this weekly bread would remind them of the fellowship meal that Israel had shared with God back in ch24, last week, when God confirmed this covenant relationship.
And third, the 12 loaves specifically symbolized the 12 tribes of Israel, and God’s provision of ONE ANOTHER, the covenant community of faith.
So God provides for us PHYSICALLY - our “daily bread” - SPIRITUALLY - by drawing us into fellowship with Him - and SOCIALLY - by drawing us into fellowship with one ANOTHER as well. God is SUCH a generous Provider, and all who would draw near to Him must WORSHIP Him as such, in humble gratitude.
#4 - Being in God’s presence requires CONSECRATION, a “setting apart as HOLY unto the Lord” (golden lampstand; 25:31-40); v31 now:
31 “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32 And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 33 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 35 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. 36 Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. 37 You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. 38 Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39 It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold. 40 And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.”
The lamp was roughly 5 ft tall, weighing 75 pounds of pure gold. And it served a practical function, insofar as the tent covering the tabernacle was 4 layers thick, with no windows, and this was the ONLY source of light inside it. But even more than that, it once again served a SYMBOLIC purpose; TWO symbols actually:
The first was in God’s design of the lampstand to look like an almond tree, as a symbol of LIFE. Ryken notes “As the lampstand branched out, it was budding, blooming, and ripening with fruit. In other words, the three stages in the life cycle of a tree occurring simultaneously. This made the lampstand a potent symbol of God’s [power of] LIFE” (838). We think of the TREE of life from Genesis 2, or the tree of life from Revelation 22; the Bible begins and ENDS with a Garden and a TREE… with LIFE. Jesus came for that very purpose: to give us LIFE to the fullest. And how do we GET it? Romans 12:1 - by giving OUR lives to HIM; by CONSECRATING our lives, setting them apart, for God’s glory.
Second, the lamp of course symbolized LIGHT. When the priests SAW this light, they were reminded, as 1 John 1:5 says, that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Seven is the biblical number of completion or fullness, so the 7 lamps here signify that God is the perfection of light. And God has now “called [US] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). So Ephesians 5:8 exhorts us: “at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. [So then] Walk as children of the light”. We consecrate ourselves unto the Lord of light.
We might also add here: being in God’s presence requires COMING AFTER Him, FOLLOWING the Lord’s lead. That’s what light does for us: it GUIDES us on our way through the dark. Psalm 119 rejoices “Your word [O God] is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” So because we’ve given our lives back to the Lord, we follow where He leads.
#5 - Being in God’s presence requires CAREFULNESS. (tabernacle; 26:1-37) We won’t read ALL of ch26, and I’ll just share a few thoughts as we work our way THROUGH it, because much of this we’ve already covered now. But pay attention to the CARE - the attention to detail - that had to go into the construction of all this. And secondly, notice how the entire tabernacle STRUCTURE was set up, perhaps not quite as a “Keep Out” sign, but at least like a giant “Enter with CAUTION” sign. Ch26:
26 “you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim [there they are again, reminding them of the HOLINESS of this place; heaven on earth! “cherubim…] skillfully worked into them. 2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. 3 Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. 4 And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. 5 Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another. 6 And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole. [Again, CARE… attention to detail…]
7 “You shall also make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make. 8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. 9 You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. 10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.
11 “You shall make fifty clasps of bronze [notice how as we work our way OUT, from the INNER-most layer of the tent covering, the materials employed, both in the curtain itself - fine linen, then goat skin, then ram skin, then manatee - they get less and less dignified; as do the CLASPS - first gold, now bronze], and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole. 12 And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13 And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it. 14 And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams' skins and a covering of goatskins [or some translations say “sea cow” hides, waterproof DUGONG skin; we’re not actually sure what the Hebrew there means…] on top.”
And forgive me, but for sake of time, I’m gonna SUMMARIZE vv15-35 for us (hopefully you can skim along in your Bibles, and go back and read it fully on your own later, but): God then gives further detailed instructions for the FRAMES, that hold the whole tent UP… and the silver BASES, that hold the FRAMES up… and then the CROSSBARS, that serve as braces for the frame… and then in v31 we hear about the VEIL that “separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy”, as we discussed already. Then v34: “You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. 35 And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side. [And…] 36 “You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent [on its EAST side, just like the Garden of EDEN; remember: God designed the tabernacle as a means for His people to RE-enter His presence again, finally; it’s a mini-Garden of Eden… a mini-HEAVEN!].
And the only thing I want to ADD here is that NO PART of this blueprint is haphazard, is it. God outlined every last detail with CARE, and He called Israel to BUILD it with care, and only then were they invited back into God’s presence with extreme care, and caution.
Here’s the point: God will NOT be approached CASUALLY. He won’t be approached on OUR terms - Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, they tried that; they didn’t follow God’s protocol for how He must be approached; they weren’t CAREFUL, and it cost them their LIVES.
Do we CONSIDER this, friends, when WE approach God today? Are we cognizant of the fact that “our God is a consuming fire”, Hebrews 12:29 says - that’s the NEW Testament for ya - God hasn’t changed; He’s every bit as holy TODAY, just as much a threat to SINFUL MAN today, as He’s always been. This ought have MASSIVE implications for how YOU AND I approach God today in PRAYER - never flippantly, but CAREFULLY - how we approach Him in corporate WORSHIP - we don’t just saunter in to church 15 minutes late, mumble our way through the worship songs… NO, we approach God SERIOUSLY because He is a seriously HOLY God.
Lastly, [we’re gonna save point #7 for NEXT Sunday, but…] #6 - Being in God’s presence requires A COST. A cost (bronze altar and courtyard; 27:1-19); we end with ch27 now:
27 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. [b/c it’s more heat-resistant than gold, and also less precious, since we’re now OUTSIDE the tabernacle proper] 3 You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and fire pans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 You shall also make for it a grating… [to catch the drippings; this thing is essentially a giant portable GRILL!] And [skipping down to v6] you shall make poles for the altar [gotta be able to transport it too]… [v8:] You shall make [the altar] hollow with boards [to allow for air-flow]. As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made. [See, I feel like I can actually do justice TO the text by showing you the PICTURES instead of the text, because God himself IN the text refers MOSES back to the PICTURES that apparently God had already shown Moses up on the mountain, to help him envision and build all this.]
But I’m just gonna summarize vv9-19: God then gives us the blueprint for the “COURT of the tabernacle”… complete with the FABRIC for the fencing around it, the fence’s framework, the dimensions of the fence (150 ft x 75 ft - the whole complex was smaller than our building here; the tent itself was only 15 ft x 45 ft; you could fit a COUPLE of them in our sanctuary here)...
But I want to focus in on the ALTAR. Because as you can TELL from the picture, the altar was CENTRAL in the courtyard. It was the FIRST thing they saw when they entered the courtyard, and you couldn’t get to the TABERNACLE, without passing by the ALTAR. And as with ALL these details: that was very INTENTIONAL. Because “without the shedding of blood there is NO forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). There is a COST to repairing broken relationship, specifically: DEATH. The Bible says “the wages of sin” - what our sin rightfully EARNS us - “is DEATH”. The death of relationship, with a holy God; EXILE from His perfect presence. “BUT”, it goes on to say, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
See, friends, you and I could NEVER meet God’s requirements - his GOOD, righteous, appropriate requirements; it’s a good thing that the President of the United States has BODYGUARDS… that not just anyone can come into his presence at any time in any way they see fit. There are RULES. How much MORE so with GOD! And we could NEVER meet the requirements for being in God’s presence on our own.
*We could NEVER contribute enough; God deserves our whole heart, mind, soul, strength… our whole LIVES! But we bring Him so much LESS.
*We DON’T comply with the terms and conditions of his covenant; we break God’s Law all the time. Even if we boil the 613 commandments down to just 2, like Jesus did: Love God and Love Neighbor; who does THAT perfectly? No one!
*We DON’T celebrate his provision; most of us live most of the time like entitled, spoiled brats. We whine when we go through hardships in life, like God OWES us a life free of any difficulty. We take his daily mercies for granted all the time - we should say “Thank You” every single time we take a BREATH; cuz it’s HIS breath in our lungs, after all!
*We DON’T consecrate our lives in holiness unto Him. We DON’T “come after” Him and follow His lead at every turn.
*When we DO approach God, it’s not with the carefulness that His majesty demands.
*And we could NEVER hope to pay the COST of admission into His presence, because it’s our LACK of complete surrender - heart, mind, soul and strength - that has left us in a position of DEBT in the first place! We need someone ELSE to pay the cost FOR us. In short, we require a SAVIOR.
And here’s how the Bible describes JESUS, friends:
*Jesus is God’s contribution to the construction of a new and better tabernacle, the place where we can FOREVER meet with God. Hebrews 9:11 calls Jesus “the greater and more perfect tent ” by which we have gained access to GOD!
*Because Jesus actually complied with God’s holy Law, He FULFILLED the Law for us, lived the life of perfect obedience to the Father that we owed but neglected.
*Jesus is God’s ULTIMATE provision for us - He is the “bread of LIFE”; he is “the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (Jn 6:51)
*Jesus is the “LIGHT of the world. Whoever follows [Him] will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of LIFE” (Jn 8:12). “In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (Jn 1:4); “light and life to all he brings, Hallelujah!” (Wesley)
*Jesus is our MERCY SEAT. Because of HIS precious blood, interposed between a holy God and a sinful US, we can now approach God’s throne not just with carefulness, but with CONFIDENCE, Hebrews 4:16 says; Hebrews 10 declares: “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” - now JESUS is the only veil standing between us and God, cuz God ripped the OLD one in TWO, from top to bottom, when Jesus took his last breath on the cross and died in our place. No more “keep out” sign; ALL may now enter God’s presence!
But friends, we can ONLY come through JESUS. You can’t get to the tabernacle without going past the ALTAR. Hebrews 13:10 “we have an altar”; his name is JESUS. “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26).
CONCLUSION…