Emmanuel: the Tabernacle of the LORD 08/15/2021 Scripture 1: (Exod
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1 Emmanuel: The Tabernacle of the LORD 08/15/2021 Scripture 1: (Exod. 25:1-9 ESV) The LORD said 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 that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, goatskins, 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 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. Scripture 2: (Exod. 33:1-17 ESV) The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." Pastor Joseph A Yerger, Mansfield 1st EPC: 399 S Trimble Rd; Mansfield, OH 44906 2 Sermon: Emmanuel and the Tabernacle. The promise from the LORD that “God is with us” leads directly to the command for His people build Him a sanctuary, a holy place; specifically, a portable sanctuary so that He might always “dwell in their midst”, wherever they go. Don't you think it would be nice to see and know that you have God dwelling in your midst? Wouldn't you be comforted knowing that He was there with you; because you could just look over there and see His place and know that since the lights are on, the LORD surely must be home? How nice it is to have God dwelling with us! How utterly terrifying it is to have God dwelling with us! It is both a joy and a terror; something for us to both celebrate and to dread. Today, we are going to look at the implications of God commanding His people to build a sanctuary for His dwelling and also having His presence go with them. To the Israelite people, the Tabernacle was the visible sign that the LORD God Almighty was with them. The cloud of the LORD's glory would ascend and descend onto the Tabernacle, governing their travels, and this was where the LORD would meet with Moses, face to face, as a friend (33:11). Unfortunately, we are now at a point where our wonderful English language fails us. It fails to accurately portray and explain what is going on because we have certain “Bible words” which we think we know the meaning of, yet we often do not. Like, what exactly is a Tabernacle? Is it a noun: a unique person, place, or thing; or is it a verb: to tabernacle? How is it used? There is a fancy box in which Roman Catholic priest's store the remaining “host” following a Mass, called a tabernacle. Usually, there is a compartment or “closet” in the front of a synagogue sanctuary where the Rabbi stores the their Torah scroll, also called a tabernacle. Then there is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which usually performs at their principle church building in Salt Lake City which they call, The Tabernacle. Then Christians will sometimes speak of Jesus as “tabernacling with us”, by paraphrasing John 1:14, {And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us....}. What do these four different uses of the word tabernacle have in common? They each refer to something related to the “presence of God”. Tabernacle is one of those “Bible Words” that we use, using it without actually understanding it. Tabernacle is now an English word coming to us through French, from the original Latin word tabernaculum, which plainly meant “tent”. This derives from the Latin word taberna, where we also get the word “tavern”. A taberna was a small, semi-permanent structure that people would come to visit for a specific purpose, such as a shop or an inn; thus, a tabernaculum was a smaller structure, similar in purpose and use but mobile, like a Carnival tent or a gypsy's wagon. The Tabernacle built by the Israelites is clearly more than “just a tent”. Tabernacle translates from the Hebrew word mishkan and is best described as a “dwelling”; {unlike the Hebrew word “ohel” which nearly always refers to an actual tent}. Tabernacle refers to the whole complex, including the curtains, implements, and altar not merely the central tent, of the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. {The central tent structure is specifically called the “Tent of Meeting” elsewhere in the Pentateuch because it was there that Moses, the priests, and later Joshua met with God.} 3 The mishkan, the Tabernacle, was built as a dwelling place for the LORD in the midst of His chosen people. This is the place where God would meet with His people, where they could enter His presence for worship and fellowship. {The book of Deuteronomy describes the Tabernacle as the place where “the LORD's name” would dwell, not meaning that the LORD Himself would dwell there, for the Creator LORD cannot be contained within any single creation or human construct, yet He certainly will make His presence known and felt in particular places, in particular times, according to His will and purpose.} The LORD commanded the Israelites to build the mishkan, more for their benefit than for His own. God does not need a tent to live in, but the people needed a visible sign, to comfort them and re-assure them, to remind to themselves, that God was with them. They required “proof” of Emmanuel. Now the LORD gave to Moses a very specific set of instructions for the construction and operation of the Tabernacle: the how's, and where's, and who's. The reason for the necessity of following all these instructions was to protect the people from the LORD's wrath. These were instructions in holiness, so that the people might approach God without fear of destruction. The layout of the Tabernacle established a series of layers, “degrees of holiness”, serving to constantly remind us of our separation from God, due our sinfulness. At the very center of the Tabernacle was a tent containing two chambers. The “Most Holy Place”, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, or the “Holy of Holies”, which was the earthly throne room of God.