I invite you all to open in your Bibles to Exodus 25 through 40. It's Exodus chapters 25 through chapter 40. I'm not going to read the whole thing. I timed myself doing it, and it takes a little over an hour. But out of curiosity, just so I know, starting place, how many of you in say the last two or three years have read this end section of Exodus at some point, rather in different settings or different points? Fantastic. It's about what I thought. Just to kind of give us a quick primer as we enter into this, this section of Exodus focuses on God's design for the tabernacle. Now, how many of you have heard of the tabernacle before? not the box at the back of communion for Catholics. We're talking like Old Testament. They had a big tent. So that's what a tabernacle is. The tabernacle is a tent that God instructed them to make in a very specific way so that he could dwell with them. Sometimes it is called the sanctuary, sometimes it's called the tent of meeting, but it's often called the tabernacle. The Hebrew word is mishkan. And it actually means the dwelling place. You see, the tabernacle was meant to be the dwelling place of God amongst the people of Israel. From the time of Moses to the time of King Solomon, it was the place where the very presence of God dwelled physically in the world. That is what we will be reading about, the dwelling place of God. And we see that in Exodus 25 and what we'll read there. As I said, we're not going to go through all 15 chapters, but a quick summary of what we'll see. Chapters 25 through 31 are about God's design for the tabernacle. He lays out blueprints, if you will. He calls it his pattern. And then in chapter 35 through 39, we see that the people of Israel make everything God had said for the tabernacle. In between, you have chapters 32 through 34, which highlight the golden cat incident. Think about it this way, when I was in college, I would build sets for theater, and quite often we would have set designers who were from out of town, right? And so they would make a plan, they would design everything, create the blueprints, give us the specs, and they would send that to us, and we would build everything. And then we would usually have a call with them and we would be told exactly how to put everything together and design and place it where it's supposed to go. And they wouldn't fly in until after all of that was done and everything was pretty much built. And they would come and double check everything and be there for tech week. But we had already built everything based off their design. That's a little bit like what's happening here. In chapters 25 through 31, we get the blueprints, the specs for God's design for this tabernacle. And in 35 through 39, they build it. And then they have to figure out how to put the pieces together, and that's what happens in chapter 40. In verses 1 through 15 of chapter 40, God gives Moses detailed instructions of how to put all these pieces together. And then in 16 through 33, he does it. And then at the beautiful ending of chapter 40, verses 34 through 38, God's presence fills the tabernacle. So that's what we're looking at here. 25-31, God's design for the tabernacle. Chapter 35-39 is they make the tabernacle. Then God enters the tabernacle. I'm gonna read from chapter 25, verses 1-9, and then I'm gonna jump to the very end, chapter 40, verses 16-38. I'm gonna read and pray, and then I'll jump in. Here now, the word of God in Exodus, chapter 25, starting at verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses, 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. And this is the contribution you shall receive from them. Gold, silver and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make for me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. Moving over to Exodus chapter 40, starting at verse 16. This Moses did according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. In the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases and set up its frames and put in its poles and raised up its pillars. And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. He took the testimony and put it into the ark and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark and he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen and screened the ark of the testimony as the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the veil and arranged the bread on it before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. And he set up the lamps before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, and he burned fragrant incense on it as the Lord had commanded Moses. He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle, and he set the altar of burnt offerings at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and he offered on it the burnt offerings and the grain offering as the Lord had commanded Moses. He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. When they went into the tent of meeting and when they approached the altar, they washed as the Lord commanded Moses. And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all the journeys. Thus ends the reading of God's holy, inerrant word. May its truth be ever written on our hearts. Let us pray. Dear God, we thank you that you reveal yourself to us and that you desire to be with your people. Lord, help us to see that in this passage, to see your plan for the people of Israel and how it relates to Jesus and how that relates to us. Oh Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be ever pleasing and acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. The legendary rock band Van Halen used to have a hidden clause in their contract which put a flat-out ban of brown M&M's in their venues. Venues would be required to provide a bowl of M&M's where they had removed each of the brown M&M's one by one. Now, this sounds like something that some crazy rock star would do, right? Like, it's Van Halen, they're just being crazy, no brown M&Ms. But according to frontman David Lee Roth, this was actually a quick safety check. Hidden in the contract, a very small clause in the middle of a bunch of other stuff, was this statement saying no brown M&Ms. Now, Van Halen, Their performances involved lots of pyrotechnics and lots of moving parts. And so if they came to a venue and they saw brown M&Ms, they knew that that venue did not read and follow the contract down to the detail. And so they knew it wasn't going to be a safe place and they would get out of there. Now, Van Halen can ask just about whatever they want and they're going to get it. And for Van Halen to perform, the venue has to do exactly what they wanted. They have to do it on their terms or else Van Halen goes somewhere else. And that makes sense. It's Van Halen. They're legendary rock stars. If we could get Van Halen to come to Baxter, I'm pretty sure we would do just about anything they say to get them to perform, right? They get to set the terms for the venues that they're going to be at. How much more should we do what God wants? We have the opportunity to have the creator of the world with us. But how much more should we do what God wants us to do for him to be with us than, say, Van Halen? Now, God is God of the whole earth. He is omnipresent. That's a fancy theological way of saying he is everywhere all the time. The whole universe is the dwelling place of God. Jeremiah 23, 24 says the Lord fills the heavens and the earth, the whole universe. God is everywhere. The last week we talked about how God made us to be with him. That was part of God's good design for us in the garden. Genesis 1 and 2, God made people to be with him. And we talked about how sin separates us from God. That's Genesis 3, the fall. God made us to be with him. Sin separates us from God. And now we live in this fallen world where we have this kind of split reality, where God is with us, but yet we often want nothing to do with him. Where because of our sin, because of our fallenness, we often want to run and hide like Adam and Eve did. But God wants to be with his people. And throughout the Bible, we see God trying to address this issue in the lives of his people. And so for God to truly be with us, he has to address the issue of sin. That's a big part of what we see in the Bible. The places where God most clearly shows up are the places of atonement and the places of promise. The places where God addresses sin. And that's actually what is to happen in the tabernacle. The tabernacle is the place where atonement is made and God's promises are kept. Sometimes there are special places where God meets with people in time and space. We see these throughout the Bible, where people have a real experience of God. And if we, as a people, as a church, are going to have a real experience of God, then don't you think we have to do it on His terms? Don't you think we have to do the things He says to do, not the things we want to do? That is what the tabernacle is about. Look back at chapter 25, verse eight with me, if you will. Chapter 25, verse eight. God says, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. The reason God wants the people of Israel to make a sanctuary, to make this tabernacle, is so that he can dwell amongst them, so that he can be in their midst. The tabernacle is meant to be the dwelling place of God amongst the people of Israel. But look at verse 9. Verse 8 says, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Verse 9, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so you shall make it. If they really wanted God to show up in their presence, they would have to make the tabernacle exactly as God specified it. They would have to follow the pattern God had revealed to Moses. They would have to obey his instructions for how this is to be built so that they can worship him in spirit and in truth. You see, they would have to do what God had shown. We see this idea repeat itself over and over again in chapters 25 through 31. In these few chapters, four times it says, make them after the pattern that I show you. God repeats this idea over and over again to make the things of the tabernacle after the pattern shown. Three more times God says to make it as the Lord commanded. So it's by the pattern and by the command. So we see that the tabernacle and the holy elements within the tabernacle are to be made after the pattern God had shown Moses. They're to be made after the pattern God had shown Moses. So too in these chapters in Exodus 25 through 31, 12 times it talks about how they need to be in the tabernacle to do something before the Lord. They need to make the altar to offer sacrifices before the Lord. They need the altar of incense to offer incense before the Lord. They need the table of presents to offer bread before the Lord. This is a place where the Spirit of God is so that they can do things actively in the presence of God. Seven more times it refers to meeting with God. Aaron would go in to meet with God. And so they are to build this tabernacle that God may dwell among them. You see, they are not free to do whatever they want and expect God to show up for them. They are not free to do whatever they want and expect God to dwell in their presence. If they want God to be with them, they have to do it on His terms. I think this is something many Christian churches need to wrap their minds around. You see, God wants to be with us, but on His terms. Our worship should be regulated, if you will, based off the commandments and patterns God has given us in his word. That's what it was like for the Israelites. That's what it is for Christians in the New Testament. And so in chapters 25 through 31, God gives the Israelites the design for the tabernacle. God's design for the tabernacle. If I had another 20 minutes or so to preach this, I'd go through and point out some of the things he's making and how they look like plants. The menorah is described like a tree with little lights on it. And the embroidery in the curtains has vines and trees. It's meant to look like a garden, like Eden. You see, when God designs the tabernacle and the temple, which we'll look at next week, He's designing them to look a little bit like Eden, the place he made to dwell with people. Isn't that interesting? The time does not allow me to go into that. Chapter 32, we have the dreaded golden calf incident, which, again, not a lot of time here, but it's important to see that God, at the end of chapter 32, wants to abandon the people of Israel. He literally says, let me kill them all and start again with you, Moses. And Moses pleads to God and says, hey, remember your promises to us. Remember your promises when you brought us out of Egypt that you promised to be in the presence of your people and to lead them into the promised land. Moses reminds God of his promise. And so God in chapter 34 makes atonement and then has Moses write down the 10 commandments all over again. in order that Israel can keep those promises, in order that he can be with them. Just a practical takeaway on a side note here, the juxtaposition between the Israelites being given God's instruction to build the tabernacle at the same time that the Israelites down the mountain are building a golden calf to worship, the fact that both of these happen at the same time helps show us that we cannot have both. We cannot build a place for the one true God to be present with us while actively building shrines to false idols. We cannot serve two gods. As Jesus says, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both God and relationships. You cannot serve both God and a good house or a good life. It's God that must be worshiped. And you cannot build to both at the same time. That being said, in chapter 35 through 39, the Israelites make the tabernacle. They make this tent. In chapter 35, Moses gathers the people of Israel and describes the things God had showed to them. And he appoints the craftsmen that God named in chapter 31 to build everything. And they do it. In the 132 verses that make up chapters 36, 37, 38, and 39, four chapters, the Hebrew word Esau, which means he made, appears 104 times. In four chapters, the phrase he made appears 104 times. It shows us very clearly that they made everything God commanded them to make. And if you look at chapter 39, they made it as the Lord commanded Moses. This statement appears 10 times in chapter 39, let alone chapter 40. In chapter 39, it's verse 1, verse 5, verse 7, verse 21, 26, 31, 32, 42, and 43. God commanded them and they made it as the Lord commanded Moses. So we see in chapters 35 through 39 that they made the tabernacle according to the exact terms God had set. But at the end of chapter 39, they have all these pieces built, and they have to figure out how to put them together. And if you look at chapter 40, God gives them the instructions in verses 1 through 15. It begins, the Lord spoke to Moses, and God lays out exactly how to do it. And then, if you look back at 16, where we picked up earlier, it says, and Moses did according to all the Lord commanded. What a beautiful line. Moses did according to all that the Lord commanded. The Lord filled the tabernacle. You see, at the very end, verse 34, then the cloud covered the tent and meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. They made everything as the Lord had commanded Moses and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. God's presence entered into the place where he would be with his people. They did it according to his design and he came with them. That is what Christmas is about. That is what Advent is about. Advent is about the coming of God into this world. God made a way to be with us, but he made a way to be with us on his terms. Here is the lesson for us to take away from here. God makes a way for us to be with him on his terms, not ours. This has always been how God relates to his people in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. This is how God relates to people in a fallen world. If sin separates us from God, then obedience is part of being with God. And so God gives us his commands and his good design to restore this relationship, to make a way for him to be with us. God makes a way to be with his people on his terms. But these terms are not arbitrary. It's not like brown M&Ms in the bowl by Van Halen. You see, all God's commands are actually meant for our good. Deuteronomy 10, 13 says, keep the commandments and the statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. God's commandments are ultimately for your good. And the greatest good is that you get to be with God. Let me close with this important thought that I want you to see. This whole tabernacle thing takes 15 chapters of a 40-chapter book. It's more than a third of the Book of Exodus. And if you remember the Book of Exodus, the first 15 chapters is that classic story of Moses leading the people of Israel out of slavery, God freeing the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. And then the 10 chapters in between is the Sinai incident where God gives the Ten Commandments. Here's the thing I want you to see in this structure. Salvation comes first. God saves them before he gives them the law. God saves them before he asks them to build the tabernacle. God saves them before he dwells with them. Salvation comes first. Jesus saves you and he gives you all these ways to relate to God. There's a bunch of commands to following Jesus. But salvation comes first. We don't keep those commands to get to Jesus. You are saved and then there's the command and then God dwells with you forever. And he does it through his atonement. You see, you have been saved if you believe that Jesus is the Christ by trusting in his life and death and resurrection as an atonement for sin. The way God relates back to us sinful people is through atonement. Brothers and sisters, you do not need to do anything that God commands in order to be saved. Jesus already did it for you. But if you are in Christ, he gives you a way to come back to God, to be with God. through his commands, through his good design. And this is the design for our worship in our lives, to follow God in obedience. God made a way for us to be with him on his terms. And that's what Advent is ultimately about, God wanting to be with his people, God entering into humanity in the person of Jesus, and fulfilling the terms on our behalf, doing the things we could not do being the tabernacle, being the holy place, being the sacrifice. Christ came so that we can be with God forever. And Christ did it on our behalf. Amen? Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you that Jesus Christ makes a way for us to be with you. We thank you that you made a way to be with us on your terms, but that Jesus fulfills those terms on our behalf, because they are difficult and confusing and hard, but you love us so much that you want to be with us, that you even died for us to make you. Lord, help us to follow you. Help us to be obedient to you, to follow you on your terms, to worship you on your terms all the days of our life. We pray this for our good and your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.