Take your copy of God's word and turn with me to the book of Exodus. Exodus, chapter 26. Exodus, chapter 26. Put your finger there and turn as well to John, chapter one. Here now, the word, the living God. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread. With artistic designs of cherubim, you shall weave them. John chapter one, verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is the word of the living God, and we say, thanks be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray together. Now, O Lord, we ask simply that through the preaching of your word, Christ would be seen, that your work through the pages of Holy Scripture would be recognized and that we would find solace as your people, people of your promised land, even as we dwell in a land now filled with other peoples who do not recognize your name. Lord, help us today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Perhaps you've seen it, I know that I have, several times in my life. You'll be a part of an organization, perhaps a church, a workplace, a school, and it's time for a new thing to begin. So they'll bring in the architects, the architects will come up with a design, the people, perhaps the committee, set aside, or the entire group will approve the design, and then eventually, before building starts of this new thing, the architectural firm will usually build a model, a little small model, boys and girls, and they'll put it on display for weeks or months or even years and it'll sit in the hall and everyone will see something new is coming. And this little teeny replica, this little model is supposed to get us excited about what is coming. You know, you might stand there and look, it's in glass and you see that the architects have even taken little people, boys and girls and families, little stick figure people and put them there. And we're supposed to stand there and we're supposed to say, this is a model of something that is to come. Something exciting is about to happen, and here is this model which we're going to use for a while to prepare for that day. The challenges with models are many. Models are helpful, they're patterns, but they're not the thing that is ultimately to come. They're not the true building. But you know, these little models, while helpful, only get us so far. I would submit to you that in Exodus chapter 26, we have a model. It's of something that is greater to come. This tabernacle, this tent in the wilderness is God dwelling with his people in the midst of the wilderness and eventually in the midst of Canaan. God will bring his presence in the middle of his people. This people will be surrounded by nations that do not know the Lord. And in this tent, this tabernacle, this model, there will be a kind of excitement, there will be a kind of joy, there will be a kind of experiencing of God's presence. But it won't be the true building that is to come. For that would come thousands of years later. when born of a virgin in the city of David, Christ the Savior would tabernacle with his people. So let's look then at this model, this little picture that's a pattern of greater things to come. I call it a model because later scriptures tell us that Jesus is the true tabernacle, the true temple that he is the meeting place. He is the ark, the new ark. He is the sacrifice. He is the great high priest. Every single detail in the Old Testament points and preaches and sings of Jesus to come. But I want you to notice this tabernacle, this tent, which we've begun to study over the last few weeks. It's really a tent, boys and girls, made up of a variety of materials. You remember last week, the people of God were told, hey, gather from all that you have. Collect from all that you have, and this tent is to be made. And now, God gives a model, a pattern, to Moses on the mountain. This is what this tabernacle is going to look like. Now, if you're new to the things of the Bible, let me fill in some details for you. We're about 150 pages into a grand story, about 800 pages later, Jesus of Nazareth would be born fully God and fully man, and he would be the ultimate meeting place between God and man. He would die on the cross and pay for the sins of all who ever trust in him. But prior to his coming, there were little models given of what he was going to be like. This is one model. A place where God's people will meet with God, where their sins are covered by blood, where covenant words abound. That's what this is. Notice in verse one, we're told that this is a tent. It's made with curtains of a variety of materials. And there's going to be a picture. On some of these curtains, look at the end of verse one with artistic designs of cherubim, you shall weave them. Interestingly enough. These people through their high priest would have access to God's presence again, and they would go through the cherubim, these pictures. Inscripted upon these curtains. would be a reminder of the Garden of Eden. Now access to God's presence would be made known again. The high priest would enter through these pictures of angels that, on that day when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, were placed there to keep people out. Now, in a mediated way, In a kind of way, people could come through the cherubim again and have access to God. But this is just a model. It's a little stick figure kind of thing which points to something that is to come, which is much greater. So let's look at this pattern. Perhaps this morning we can see three things. The tabernacle is a pattern of creation. A pattern of creation. One scholar notes a connection between the tabernacle and the creation motif. It's a snazzy word, motif, picture, layout, story. What does he mean, though, when he notes this connection? Well, think about what we have in this text. Let me read just a few verses. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple and scarlet thread with artistic designs of cherubim. You shall weave them. The length of each curtain shall be 28 cubits and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have the same measurements. Five curtains shall be coupled to one another and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. And you shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the curtain, on the selvage. of one set, and likewise you shall do on the outer edge of the other curtain of the second set. Fifty loops you shall make in one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain, that is at the end of the second set, that the loops may be clasped to one another. You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtain together with the clasps, so that it may be one tabernacle." Now what did we have in the previous chapter? We had materials gathered, And then we had instruction for light, the lamp. And now we have, as it were, a new sky. This tent. There's a frame to this new place. Genesis chapter 1, what do we read? God, the Spirit, was hovering over the materials, as it were, the face of the water. And what did he say? Let there be light. And there was light. And then there was a firmament or a sky that was made. Here you have a new kind of creation. Eden was a place where human beings were to dwell with God. There was light and there was sky made of materials that God brought to order. Now, in a smaller way, there is a place where God will dwell with man. Materials are gathered. There's light. God's design. And there is a firmament, a sky. Matthew Poole, the Puritan, says that the design of the inner place of this new creation, this tabernacle, the Holy of Holies points to the highest heaven, the abode of God. It's almost as if now in a small way where the earth was this place and God's presence was everywhere. Now, on a smaller way, the intersection of this tabernacle becomes, as it were, the firmament, the place where God dwells. God has been doing this from the very first pages of the Bible, he creates and dwells with men. He creates and dwells with men, this will be the pattern creation, the tabernacle, the temple and ultimately Christ. And what happens on the last page of the Bible? We have a new heaven and a new earth where there God dwells with people. The tabernacle is a pattern of creation. God is doing something new, but he's not finished yet. But he's creating a place where even with sinful people represented by their priests, he will dwell with man again. But secondly, there is a pattern of purity, a pattern of purity. Now, you may read this through your daily Bible reading, your read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year, or your preacher may be preaching through it, but you read Exodus 26, and you might get lost in all the details. You might think, I understand for Moses' people, this was important. How many loops? How big? How many cubits? What's the design? But for us as Christians, What do we gather from this now? Christ has come. How important are the measurements of Exodus 26? But let's just take a moment and look at some of the patterns. In verses one through six, which I just read. You see instructions and the material there involves linen, a very fine fabric. And the clasps are made of what kind of metal, boys and girls? Gold. But then if we were to keep reading, we see different kinds of materials, perhaps less valuable materials. Let's read verse 7. You shall also make curtains of goat's hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make 11 curtains. The length of each curtain shall be 30 cubits, and the width of each curtain, four cubits. And the 11 curtains shall all have the same measurements. And you shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent. You shall make 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and 50 loops on the edge of the curtain of the second set. Now notice this, what material? are the clasps, no longer gold. And you shall make 50 bronze clasps. Put the clasps into the loops and couple the tent together that it may be one. The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. and a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other side of what remains of the length of the curtains of the tent shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side to cover it. You shall also make a covering of ram's skins, dyed red for the tent, and a covering of badger skins above that." Now, these animal skins, no doubt, were gathered from the people in this collection But what we have here is not only a pattern of creation, God is making a new creation as it were, where he will dwell with his people. There's a pattern of purity because the closer you get to the place where God's presence is known, guess what? The value of the materials and the purity of the materials get higher and higher and higher. It's almost as if God is saying, you are out here and the closer you get to my presence, the more special and the more pure that it is. Modern-day writer T.D. Alexander writes this, linen is viewed as the most suitable material to adorn the innermost part of the sanctuary, probably due to the fact that it is derived from a plant and not from animals. Throughout the Bible, linen, more than any other fabric, is associated with the holy presence of God. What are the saints clothed in on the final day? He continues, the clothing worn by the priests when serving in the sanctuary is also made of linen. Closest to God comes fine linen, next goat hair, and then two different layers of leather materials. The layers move from a fabric produced from plants, linen, to a layer produced by animals that are alive, hair, to layers that are made from the hides of dead animals, leather. The arrangement of these layers underlines that holiness is incompatible with death." And Alexander is not the only one to say this. If you remember our series in Leviticus years ago, there were all these rules, boys and girls, in the book of Leviticus. What kind of animals can you touch? Why is it that you can't drink blood? Why is it that you have to avoid dead animals? All of these seeming rituals that are far from our understanding, and yet here in the tabernacle, there is this pattern of purity where people would come from death, moving closer into life as they come to God's presence. The priest's clothing and the tents, the inner tents materials have connections. The priest would serve. The people on behalf of God, and they would represent the people to God. But as one were to come into the tabernacle, into the tent. There would be movement towards God, bronze and then silver and then gold. This is movement in purity of who God is. And this may very well be why later in the Old Testament, certain laws regarding types of thread and certain kinds of animals are all put together to remind the people regularly God's presence is holy. There are certain kinds of symbols. Namely dead animals. We, the old covenant people, must reject because we're living in a time before Jesus comes. Where life and death are pictured for us, even in the very place where we meet with God. So there's a pattern of creation and a pattern of purity. How might we apply this to ourselves? We don't come into a building made of animal skins and linen. We don't need to do that. Christ has come, the one who represents the very purity of God has come. He's fulfilled all of these types and shadows. But isn't there here a lesson for us about the holiness of God? about the pristine purity of God's very presence and our defilement? We are in Christ. He is the true tabernacle. If you're a Christian, you are in Christ. He is the meeting place. But don't you live in a land that's full of death? Don't you live in a land where people live with their fists raised towards God? And yet you come in through Christ's shed blood to the very inter sanctuary of God's presence. You dwell among the land of death. You come into God's very presence of life and purity. Imagine. You were given these instructions, you were to think for yourself, we're going to construct this tent or whatever word they would have used. And the closer that one gets to the interplace where God makes his presence known, where the Ark of the Covenant is and where the sacred blood of covering is, the materials get better and better and better, richer and richer and richer. You see, God is holy. He is completely other. He's imminent, he's come near to us, he is not like us. He is not tainted with our impurities and the stench of our death and curse. Yet in Christ, what has he done? He's given us access to his very presence. But think about the worship of God in the old covenant, God's worship would center in many instances around this tabernacle, but eventually the temple, which would replace it when the land of Canaan was completely In the hands of the people of God. Think about the worship of God as they would make ascent as the priests year after year would make ascent into God's presence. We often forget, don't we, as we make our ascent into the worship of God? That we're entering into the presence of God, a God who is holy and pure. The God who is not defiled by sin and death. Be very hard. To make this ascent from the outside all the way to the very inner place of God's presence, if you were the priest and not be regularly mindful. I'm getting closer to the presence of God. I'm getting closer to the presence of God. My brothers and sisters, we are not given this tent. We are not given materials. The clothing that you wear, the fabric that covers our seats and our floor are not designed by God. They're not appointed by God. And yet, how easy is it for us to forget when we come into the house of worship that we are coming into the presence of a pristine and pure God who is life? The tabernacle provides a pattern, a model. of a new creation, a new place in the midst of this cursed world where God will dwell with his people. But it also gives a model, a pattern of God's purity. Of all the other things that perhaps this chapter could preach to us about God, there's a third thing. Perhaps we'll close with that today, and that is a pattern of access to God. Yes, this is a new creation, as it were. Yes, this is a picture or a model of the purity of God, who we are, and who God is, that He is far above us, and that we move from death to life. There's a pattern of access in God's presence. Wenham, in his commentary, points to this. He says, the sequence of metals from bronze in the outer court, silver around the base of the tent, and pure gold covering the furniture inside the tent, indicated increasing nearness to the divine King." Isn't it like that in our day? If you were to go visit a prime minister or a president or a king of a nation, you were to drive from here up to Washington, D.C. and have a meeting with the President of the United States, you would actually see differences in the way that the buildings look. You'd leave your car, and after a whole lot of security, you'd enter into a variety of rooms that will look nicer and nicer. And that's just the way that the world works. Here, we see a very similar pattern. God's presence, the king's presence was notable. But there's a pattern of access, isn't there? Look at verse 15 as we continue. And for the tabernacle you shall make the boards of acacia wood standing upright. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the width of each board. Two tenons shall be in each board for binding one to another. Thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And you shall make the boards for the tabernacle twenty boards for the south side. You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under each of the boards for its tenons. For the second side of the tabernacle, the north side, there shall be 20 boards and there are 40 sockets of silver, two sockets under each of the boards. For the far side of the tabernacle westward, you shall make six boards and you shall also make the two boards for the two back corners of the tabernacle. They shall be coupled together at the bottom and they shall be coupled together at the top by one ring. Thus, it shall be for both of them. They shall be for the two corners. So there shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver, 16 sockets, two sockets under each of the boards. Boys and girls, you might be thinking, what does this thing look like? Perhaps over lunch, ask mom or dad to show you a picture. Parents, if you're like, where do I show them a picture? Any Bible with pictures. Google Hebrew tabernacle and you'll see a picture to kind of help us put all this together. But notice there were even directions given here in verse 22, for instance, for the far side of the tabernacle westward, you shall make six boards. It does cause us to say, well, did this tabernacle face in a particular direction? I'm glad that you asked. Because the tabernacles entrance faced east. Now, this may seem like a random detail, but up to this point in the Bible, does the direction of East mean anything? Yes, it does. In fact, East is a theme throughout the Old Testament. The Garden of Eden is planted in the East. When God works through Abraham, And there's a spreading of his people. Abraham goes west, Lot goes east. Cherubim, when Adam and Eve were removed from the garden, were stationed on the east side of the garden, preventing access. East becomes the direction of the curse. Such that Lot departs from Abraham and he goes east, Genesis 13, 11. The children of Abraham's concubines are sent east, Genesis 25, 6. Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh choose to dwell outside and to the east of the land of Israel, Deuteronomy 29, 8. It's almost as if by the time we get here, the opening of the tabernacle facing east, it's almost as if God is saying, I am planting my presence in the middle of curse. Because even though we see these kinds of things happening, in God's worship and in God's promises, we see the direction of the east. For instance, the regular sacrifices that would occur in the tabernacle, would involve burnt offerings. Parts of the burnt offering in the tabernacle were thrown to the east side. God actually prescribes, throw them to the east side of the altar. Later on in Ezekiel's vision, God's glory comes from the east and enters the temple from the east. The same temple faced east with a river flowing east from it in this vision. And when our blessed Savior Jesus was born, There were even kings from the east who came to visit him. It's almost as if in this small little model that God is building, this pattern of something greater to come, this new creation, God is saying, as far as the curse is, there will my presence be. We sing that song at Christmas, don't we? You know that I love this line. If you've been here any length of time, you know that Pastor Ryan loves the third verse of joy to the world. No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He, that is Jesus, comes to make his blessings flow. How far, how far will the Savior come to make his blessings flow? As far as the curse is found. This tabernacle was to be a new pattern of something that is to come, that God would plant in the midst of his people who live in a hostile land full of God haters. It's almost as if every bit of this tabernacle points to guess what? I am going to put my presence in the midst of curse and death. The access continues, verse 26, and you shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, five bars for the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, and five boards for the bars of the side of the tabernacle for the far side westward. The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end. You shall overlay the boards with gold, make their rings of gold as holders for the bars and overlay the bars with gold. And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern, which you were shown on the mountain. Now, there's going to be one other. Piece of material, boys and girls, that Moses has given instruction to in this chapter, it's a very important piece of material which we will see much, much later in the Bible. And it teaches us something about access to God and about Jesus. Verse 31, you shall make a veil. You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. It shall be woven. with an artistic design of cherubim. You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. So we're close to God's presence here in the tabernacle, aren't we? Their hook shall be gold upon four sockets of silver, and you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the most holy. You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy. You shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. And you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine woven linen made by a weaver. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be gold and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them. A veil, a big curtain. Will you ever see this material again? Of course, if you know your Bible, you know that we will. Matthew chapter 27 verse 51 teaches us many things. One of the things that it tells us is that eventually this tabernacle, which would be replaced by a permanent temple, would also have a veil like this. And year after year after year, both in this tabernacle and eventually in the temple, the high priest would enter in to this place where the Ark of the Covenant was, to this mercy seat where the blood would flow, as it were, over This covenant. Between God and men covering the people for their sins, ceremonially making them clean to continue to be his people. This veil would separate everyone except for a few people from this innermost place. You couldn't go in there. Only a particular priest could go in there representing God's people. This whole tabernacle, boys and girls, is a wonderful thing, but not everybody could be everywhere. And as the priest would enter into this larger tent and make his way going east into the very presence of God, only he would be allowed behind this veil. Matthew chapter 27, verse 51. Reminds us that shortly before Jesus died, as he was breathing his last, what was torn by the very hand of God? The veil. Matthew chapter 27, it's worth reading. Matthew chapter 27. It's almost as if God wanted this big curtain to be placed there so that thousands of years later, when Jesus would die for sins, he could rip it. from top to bottom. Matthew 27 verse 51. Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the rocks were split. God, God was the one who removed this veil, this veil which would have had stitched upon it cherubim that take us all the way back to Genesis 3, 24. You shall not enter Eden again. You're removed from the tree of life. You're removed from the express experience of my presence. And for thousands of years, God's presence would be known only in part and only every once in a while to a priest representing God's people. But when the great high priest, our Savior, died on the cross and shed his own blood, what did God do? He removed the cherubim, keeping us from access to him. And this little model, this little architectural building, which is to point to something greater to come down the road, was given a veil so that year after year people would know we don't get to come into God's presence all of the time, all of us together. Christ breathed his last. God parted the cherubim of Eden. And said, all who come through this veil, that's what Hebrews calls the flesh of Christ who come through this veil. Have life come. John Gill, speaking on this passage, says this quote, The holy place was typical of the church. It was a type of the church on earth where all the saints who are priests to God worship and the most holy of heaven, the perfect state of bliss and happiness. The writer of Hebrews picks up on this design. In fact, if you've ever read through Hebrews in chapters eight and nine, you will see that there's a lot of discussion again about the tabernacle. In almost every verse, the preacher of Hebrews says the tabernacle was about Jesus. The tabernacle was about Jesus. You needed to see an earthly type so that you could understand the spiritual. You needed to see a tent made with man's hands. So that you could understand the Christ who was to come. Just a couple of examples. Turn over to the book of Hebrews for just a moment. Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight verse two. There we read this. Now this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man. That tent in the wilderness, that tent wandering in Canaan. That was an earthly tent. to teach you about what was to come. It was a model given by the grand architect to say, something great is coming. This little model is not it. But it points you to what is to come. How about Hebrews chapter 9? Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle. Not made with hands, that is not of this creation. You might be thinking, I'm a Christian. Jesus has come. How much of Exodus 26 do I really need to know? Well, the writer of Hebrews wants you to at least understand what the tabernacle was so that you could understand the great fulfillment of Christ's work. Hebrews 9, 23, therefore, it was necessary that the copies of these things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands. Which are copies of the true. Christ didn't enter into the tabernacle with his blood, where did he go? Hebrews 9, 24. Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another. He then would have to had suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That priest year after year passing from dead animal skins into Skins of hair from living animals into this place with linen and gold behind the curtain year after year after year was to do what it was to prepare people. There is coming a great and final high priest who will shed his blood and the tent into which he will take this blood, which speaks the final word, is the very heaven of heavens. What does this have to do with you, what does a tent? In the Middle East, thousands of years have to do with you, friend. This tent, thousands of years before Jesus' coming, was a picture of what He would do. He would put an end to the regular sacrifices for sin. He would put an end to moving the tent everywhere that God's people went. Because Christ, the true tabernacle, is the place where anyone can meet with God. Let me ask you, do you have access to God? You're a sinner. You, like me, dwell in a people of death. Look at our world. And yet God has pitched His tent in the midst of the world in Jesus Christ. The true tabernacle. And now anyone who comes through Christ has access into the very presence of God. Death is all around us. The stench of the curse is all around us. The world seems to be going to the furthest links to deny the living God. They're all around us. And yet, one by one, we have been plucked, haven't we? We've been plucked from the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perizzites. And we've been brought into Israel, where now Christ, the true tabernacle, Is the very place where we have access to God. Christ covers you with his blood, the stench of death and the weight and guilt of sin has been removed and you, Christian. Are covered in the fine linen which Christ has wrought for you. By his high priestly work. Maybe you're here today and you're thinking, well, I don't really know about the Jews of old in a tent, but I sure would love to have access to God, my creator. That's the message of the Bible. You move outward from this chapter, the message of the Bible. Is that God has come to dwell with man. That Jesus, truly God, put on our flesh. dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and he died a death paying for the sins of all the people who would ever trust in him. And now you can have access to God. Yes, you. And you may say to yourself, yes, but God would never let me into his presence. I'm one of those people that belong outside the dead animal skins. God's presence. Yes, you like me, friend. The Bible. removes one kind of person from God's presence for all of eternity. Just one. Not the murderer, not the adulterer, not the homosexual, not the person fooling around with transgender ideology, not the person struggling with lust, not the liar. The one person that will not have access to God is the person who doesn't come through Christ. So come! God's true tent is put here in your midst in a world of curse and death. And we enter in through Christ by faith. We receive Him. We look to Him. We trust that He has done everything necessary and we come. The tabernacle was a model by the great architect. Hey, I'm going to give this to you for a period of years. So that as you look at it, you can see what is greater that is to come. This model isn't the true building. My son is. But for now, look at this model and see the great thing that is to come. That is what the tabernacle, the tent of the desert was. A pattern of creation. pattern of purity than a pattern of access to God. Now, look to Jesus. He is the building that was to come. Let's pray. Living God, help us to glean even from passages of scripture, speaking to us about cubits and kinds of materials and hooks and boards Truths about your son and what he's come to do. We thank you that you have. Become flesh, O Lord Christ, tabernacled among us. You've brought life. As far as the curse is found. And we pray. That by your spirit, you would breathe that life even into the darkest places of our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.