Exodus: The True & Better High Priest

Pastor Matt Moran
Sermon Begins at 3:21
Exodus 27:1-29:46

Transcript

Exodus 26. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twine linen and blue and purple
and scarlet yarns. You shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. 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.
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 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. 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. And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps, so that
the tabernacle may be a single whole. You shall also make curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle.
Eleven curtains shall you make. 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. You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six
curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall make double over at the front of the tent. 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. You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and shall put the clasps into the loops, and
couple the tent together, that it may be a single whole. And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the
half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the curtain 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. And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned ramskins,
and a covering of goatskins on top. You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits
shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. There shall be two tenons in
each frame for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames of
the tabernacle. Twenty frames for the south side, and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty
frames. Two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons.
And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames. And there are forty bases of silver,
two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. And for the rear of the tabernacle westward
you shall make six frames. And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear. They shall
be separate beneath, but joined at the top at the first ring. Thus shall it be with borders of them, both of them.
They shall form the two corners. And there shall be eight frames, and their bases of silver sixteen bases, two
bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame. You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the
frames of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five
bars for the frames of the sides of the tabernacle at the rear westward. The middle bar, halfway up the frames,
shall run from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold, and shall make their rings of gold for holders
for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan
for it that you were shown on the mountain. And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and
fine twine linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. And you shall hang it on four pillars of
acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps,
and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the most holy place
from the most holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place, and you shall
set the table outside the veil, and the tabernacle on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table. And you
shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and
scarlet yarns and fine twine linen, embroidered with needlework. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of
acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for
them. The word of the Lord. Let's take some time to pray together. Lord God, we are thankful for the goodness
of your word and our opportunity to be gathered here together in worship of you. We ask for the ministry of your
Holy Spirit, causing us to understand, giving us humility, helping us to profit from this time, pointing us towards
Christ. Lord God, we ask for all those things in this time. In your name we pray, amen. So as we get into this
passage from Exodus, in chapters 25 and 26, we'll take a quick look back at where we've been. In the macro
sense of Exodus, God has rescued his people, he's delivered them from slavery, he's brought them across the
Red Sea. Then he's given his people the law, and the covenant between God and his people has been ratified
by blood. At the end of Exodus 24, where we left off last week, Moses ascended to the top of Mount Sinai, where
he was for the next 40 days. You might wonder, what was happening up there? Well, we can't know
comprehensively what was happening up there, but one thing that was happening was that God was giving
Moses the instructions for the building of the tabernacle. So now we're in Exodus chapters 25 and 26 and the
focus shifts onto the construction of the tabernacle, where God will dwell among his people. So that you can
picture this in your mind, we'll have a visual later, but the tabernacle in the Old Testament is not a permanent
building structure. It is a tent. It's a movable tent. And we're reading instructions for the construction of the
tabernacle. We're seeing intricate details about how this was to be set up. What we read might seem very
detailed and a little bit dry. You might struggle to find the relevance of these instructions or even sort of make a
mental picture in your head of what's going on. But the tabernacle is worthy of our study. It points us forward to

very profound spiritual realities. And here is our big idea this morning that I want us to focus on as we work
through the passage. God has come to tabernacle with us in Jesus Christ. God has come to tabernacle with us
in Jesus Christ. And you're thinking, why is tabernacle a verb? In this sermon I want to explain to you what I
mean by that and tell you what it means for your life. That God has come to tabernacle with you in Jesus Christ.
But to do that, before we make that jump, we need to take the long road in understanding the tabernacle of
Exodus. So first we are going to see the means by which the tabernacle is instructed and then we will go through
the individual pieces that make up the tabernacle. If you look in chapters 25, 1 through 9, we start to see how did
this thing get constructed? It's actually through the free will offerings of the people. I will read verse 1 and
chapter 25. The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they take from me a contribution. From
every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution from me. And this is the contribution that
you shall receive from them. Gold, silver and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen.
Goat's hair, tanned ramskins, 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
me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle
and all of its furniture so you shall make it. So God's given his law and he's communicating the plans for how we
will dwell with his people. It's going to be in this tabernacle, this movable tent. Remember these are mobile
people. They are traversing through wilderness. They do not need or have a, this is not yet the time where they
will have a permanent structure for worship. They have not yet gotten to the land that God has promised them. If
you were a normal Israelite you also lived in a tent. And that one of, when God says that he will dwell in a tent, it
is one way of showing God's nearness to his people. Because in a sense he is dwelling in the same type of
house that they are. But once you read the instructions for the tent and you see the majesty and the intricacy of
this tent. You see this is not like a normal Israelite dwelling place at all. So God is demonstrating both his
nearness and his transcendence in his dwelling. And you see the same idea in the words that God uses for the
place that is being built. In 25 verse 8 God calls his tent a sanctuary. That means holy place, separated place,
sacred place. It's set aside for worship. In chapter 25 verse 9 God calls the tent tabernacle. And that means
dwelling place. So we are seeing both those things together. God is high and holy and exalted and no tent, no
four walls can find him. And yet he, in his grace, is condescending to draw near to his people. But before the
tabernacle can be constructed an offering needs to be taken. And the tabernacle is going to be constructed by
means of a voluntary offering for the people. That would be the way a church building project would typically
take place even today. But let's remember that's not the way
that it had to be. God was feeding these people through bread coming down from heaven. God had given them
water from a rock. God had sent quail in the wilderness. He had parted the Red Sea to get them out of slavery.
They certainly could have woken up one morning and just seen a tabernacle constructed in their midst. But
God's plan revealed to Moses on the mountain was that the tabernacle would be constructed on the means of
regular people voluntarily giving contributions for the construction of this tent. Verse 2, 25 verse 2 says, Every
man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. There is such a thing as a tithe, like a
mandatory percentage, later on in the Old Testament. That was to support the priestly ministry and to support
the public worship of Israel. This is not a tithe, this is not a tax, this is not mandatory. It's not a percentage.
People are simply giving to a building fund, if you will, as their heart moves them. You know how occasionally
you will see a business or a public institution that has a pay what you will day? For example, like some of you
have been to Buffalo's Art Museum, the Albright-Knox Gallery. If our family goes to the museum and just buys
the tickets, the adult tickets, the children's tickets, it's about $85, $90 for our tickets. But once a month, they have
a free Friday where you can pay what you will. You can pay whatever you want to get in, however your heart
compels you. So when we go, we pay less than $85. What if in April, you got an envelope from Erie or Niagara
County saying that it's tax time and it's time for you to pay what you will. How would the government do with that
approach? We know our thought process, we know what our hearts are like, so how is it that Christian giving in
this sense is not a requirement, it's not obligatory? It's because Christians give not out of compulsion, but as a
response to the grace that they have received. God had delivered these people out of slavery, he had given
them victory over their enemies. The only reason that they had any gold or silver or fine linens or whatever is
because they had plundered their enemies on the way out. Everything that they had came from God, so their
giving was what actual Christian giving is meant to be. A grateful response to God's grace. Then there's this
whole lengthy list of items that will be needed to construct the tabernacle. We read it, gold, silver, bronze,
different yarns, different linens, different wood. So if you recall, when the Israelites left Egypt, they plundered
their enemies and they took jewels with them. So some of these people have gold and silver that they can
donate. There's no doubt though that some of these Israelites would not have had much to donate. If you had
gold or silver, you could give that. If the best you could do is go and chop down a tree and donate that wood, you
could do that. If all you had was olive oil, you could give that. There are a wide variety of needs for this
construction project. And that meant there are a wide variety of ways that people could give to it. And verse 8
tells us, well what's it all for? What is this whole project for? Verse 8 tells us where all the materials are going.

God says, let them make for me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. So God has delivered these people,
he's given them his law, and his intention is to dwell among them. We know these are not, God's intention to
dwell among the people is not because something that the people merit or because they are so great. We know
these are sinful people. We've seen their grumbling at the Red Sea, we've seen their grumbling in Egypt, we've
even seen their grumbling after their salvation. How is a holy God going to dwell among a sinful people? That's
kind of the question that's posed here and it's addressing a question that goes back to the beginning of scripture.
When men and women refuse to obey his law, they are expelled from the place that God has created for them.
We see that right at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 3. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God has to expel
them from the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3, 23 and 24 says, Therefore the Lord God sent him, that's Adam, out of
the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the
Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim in a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of
life. So men and women were no longer able to dwell with God in the place that God had created. They're
separated from his people. They're separated from God. God's people are separated from him. But despite the
punishment that's brought on by man's rebellion, God is still determined to dwell among his people. So we have
to understand the construction of the tabernacle in light of that bigger storyline. God is determined to dwell with
his people. So how are they supposed to make this tabernacle? It's exactly according to specifications. You see
that idea repeated throughout these chapters. Verse 9, Exactly as I show you, concerning the pattern of the
tabernacle, in all its furniture, so shall you make it. Exactly. You can think, why does it have to be so precise?
Why is it so detailed? If you continue reading, you notice like the exactitude of the description. First, listening to
the instruction is one way of fearing the Lord. But secondly, it helps us understand the seriousness of worship of
God. The worship of God is not casual. God gets to determine how he is to be worshipped. So we see in these
first nine verses, how's the tabernacle going to be built? Well, it's built through the offerings of the people, the
free will offerings. What's it for? It's so that God may dwell among them. And how does it need to get done?
Exactly, precisely, according to what the Lord has outlined. So once this offering has been collected, then there's
work to do. And the text starts to take us through the individual pieces. To see how the actual, let's call it
furniture of the tabernacle is described. Look with me at Exodus 25 verse 10, we start to see the Ark of the
Covenant. They shall make me 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. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall
overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 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. You shall make poles
of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to
carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it, and you shall
put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. 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. You shall make two cherubim of gold, of hammered
wood, you shall make them on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one
cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat, you shall make the cherubim on its two ends. 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 lie. 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. There I will meet with you, and from
there 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. So that ark is the first piece
of furniture that goes inside the tent, and it's interesting to note that that's described first before the tent itself.
God's instructions don't start with the tabernacle tent, or instead they start with the ark, because that is the most
important thing that will go inside the tent. The ark is the specific place where the presence of God is being
manifest, where he's making his holy presence known. So some of you, there's all this reading about cubits, and
when you think of an ark, maybe you're thinking of Noah's ark, or maybe even the basket that baby Moses went
down the Nile River, or maybe you're thinking about Harrison Ford and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is not
Indiana Jones. The ark is not magical, and it's not a boat. It's a different Hebrew word that's being used in
Genesis. It's a box. It's a fairly simple piece of furniture. The dimensions are ordinary, so when we're reading
about cubits, it's only 18 inches, about 18 inches. You probably have that footnote in your Bible. What that
means is the ark is like a wooden chest. It's almost four feet long, it's a little more than two feet wide, it's about
two feet high. It's simple, but it's ornate. The ark is completely covered in gold. The chest and the poles are
covered in gold, and the mercy seat, which is like the lid of this box, that's covered in gold. It represents the
purity of God and God's presence. If you notice with the tabernacle, other more common elements like silver and
bronze and other things are used as you get further and further away from the ark. And you might notice
cherubim are mentioned seven times from verses 17 through 22. If you think of a cherub, you might be thinking
of that chubby creature on your Valentine's Day cards. That's not what we're talking about. We mentioned
Genesis 3 earlier. The man and the woman are sent out of the Garden of Eden for their disobedience to God's
law, and God knew that they could not eat from the tree of life in their fallen state. That would be destructive to

them. So they were sent out east of Eden. Genesis 3.24 says, So the cherubim are angelic creatures, but they
are not messengers the way angels in, say, the Gospels, the Gospels, surrounding the birth of Jesus are. They
are angelic guardians. They refuse to give access to anything unholy to the presence of God. So cherubim
guarded access to the garden back in Genesis 3. In the Psalms, we read that God dwells above the cherubim.
Psalm 99 says, Let the earth quake. You hear cherubim in Isaiah 6, other places, Ezekiel. God is absolutely
holy. And he is determined to dwell among his people. God is dwelling above the cherubim. So what we actually
have pictured in the Ark of the Covenant is a physical picture of what is going on taking place in heaven. There's
of course no depiction of God himself above the Ark. Idolatry like that is forbidden. But the cherubim are
represented in gold atop the mercy seat. And this is where God will communicate to Moses. The Lord says,
Later on in the Pentateuch, that's exactly what happens. Inside the Ark is what's called the testimony. In other
words, the law that God has given to his people. We're talking about the Ten Commandments. The Ark is
holding the law, the agreed upon terms between God and his people. These are the terms of God's relationship
with his people. The Ark cannot be touched because of its holiness. It must be carried with wooden poles. Later
on in the Old Testament you'll read about Uzzah. A man who stuck out his hand and was so careless to touch
the Ark and died from that. It's a demonstration of God's holiness. So this Ark is mentioned first because it is the
most important aspect of the tabernacle. This is the place where God's presence is manifest in a unique and
special way. Then we also hear there's a description starting in verse 23 about the table of bread. So there's a
table set apart from the Ark itself. I'll pick up in verse 23. Chapter 25 verse 23 says there is a table for bread.
And you shall make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around the handbreadth, about a
handbreadth's wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold and fasten
the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry
the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold and the table shall be carried
with these. 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. You shall set the bread of the presence on the table before
me regularly. So after the Ark comes instructions for this table which is located near but outside of the Holy of
Holies. The table carries 12 loaves of bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And the Lord says you shall set
the bread of the presence on the table before me regularly. And you can wonder why would the Israelites be
charged with making fresh bread and placing it before the Lord. It's not because the Lord needed bread. It's not
like when people set out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. The bread was set out in 12 loaves, one for each
tribe because it was a reminder to people, to these 12 tribes. God provides. Again Psalm 111 says this, He
provides food for those who fear Him. He remembers His covenant forever. This is a physical reminder of the
covenant and God's provision. God had provided them. He rescued them. He gave them manna. He gave them
quail. He gave them water. He delivered them from their enemies. He gave them the promise of daily bread. He
was the provider. And when the people finally get to the edge of the promised land some 40 years later, Moses
looked back and helped the people see what it was all for. Moses reflects in Deuteronomy 8 and he says this,
He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know
that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that comes
from the mouth of the Lord. And this is true for us. We need reminders that God is a provider. At various points
we have different needs, right? We might need actual food. We might need the money to buy food. We might
need a job. We might need encouragement. We might need a friend. We might need healing. We might be, we
might need wisdom for a decision. God's a provider. And every time He proves faithful. Even though we're prone
to think this time, this time, God's past history isn't enough. We're going to be lacking this time. God's a provider.
And when the Israelites took away the stale bread and replaced it with 12 fresh loaves, it's not because God
needed that bread. It was a reminder to them God always provides and cares for His people, His mercies, His
provision. It's new each morning. The last piece of furniture in chapter 25 is the golden lampstand. Verse 31
says this, You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work with its
base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 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, three cups made like the 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, and on the lampstand itself, there shall be four cups made like almond
blossoms with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches
going out from the lampstand. 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, 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. Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made with all
these utensils out of a talent of pure gold. And see that you make them after the pattern for them which is being
shown you on the mountain. So you know how dark it can be if you go outside in a rural place at night. Imagine
being in the darkness of a desert in the Middle East, and you go into the tabernacle, and this has no windows,
and four layers of cloth and skin that are functioning as the roof. That is complete darkness at night except for

the presence of this lampstand. This golden lamp probably looked a lot like a menorah. It's about five feet tall
holding seven different oil lamps which provide illumination for everything going on inside the tent. The
lampstand is meant to keep the tabernacle lighted, it's burning continually. It has a practical function but like all
these pieces there's symbolism too. The most basic idea is that there is light and life in the presence of God.
And it's symbolized by this lampstand and its flowering branches. Psalm 27 says, the Lord is my light and my
salvation, whom shall I fear? So in chapter 25 we see the instruction for how the tabernacle is put together. We
start to see the description and the purpose of these pieces of furniture. And then Micah read already chapter
26, the instructions for the tent itself. The tent itself gets described in chapter 26. Most of us probably don't, even
if we like architecture, don't necessarily like reading architectural plans or blueprints. So chapter 26 is a chapter
that's easy to skim or just skip completely. And even in the detail that we read, not every detail is given. If you
get into a study of what the tabernacle looks like, you will see some variation in the depictions of the tabernacle.
But there are instructions, we read them, for the curtains, the loops, the frames, the bars that make up this tent.
The roof has four layers, fabric, wool, a couple layers of animal skins which would keep the weather out. And
there's a veil that separates the holy place from the most holy place. And I want us to think about how this
tabernacle would be understood from the vantage point of a normal Israelite. Here's this structure right in their
midst that represents God's presence. But a normal Israelite could not enter. The only way to get through, to
receive access was through an intermediary. That was the priest. And the only way for the mediator to access
the most holy place was through blood sacrifice. Hebrews describes this in Hebrews chapter 9, 6 and 7. It says,
So Exodus 26, 34 tells us there's a veil separating the holy place from the most holy place. We think of veils as
being very delicate because you're probably thinking of like something lace or something that a bride would
wear. This was a very heavy curtain. By the time the temple was constructed in Solomon's time and later rebuilt,
the curtain is massive. In the time of Christ, the curtain is 60 feet high. It's 30 feet wide. Nobody could reach that
high, nobody could tear that apart, nobody could go in behind the curtain except the high priest once a year on
the Day of Atonement. This most holy place is completely unattainable. That's why when we read about the
death of Jesus, we start to see the significance that this curtain was torn in two. When Jesus dies, Matthew 27
says, So here's the point. In Exodus, God gives precise instructions for the tabernacle that he might dwell among
them. It's beautiful, rich symbolism and yet it's still a shadow of things to come. When Jesus came to earth,
John's gospel says, Jesus did not stop being divine. He was still the word, but he took on human form. Dwell
among us, it is as if to say Jesus pitched his tent among us. He set up camp with us. He tabernacled among us.
So in his incarnation when he came to earth, and in his death, and in his victory over death, Jesus becomes the
tabernacle. The tent is gone. The building is not necessary. The way to dwell with God is simply through faith in
Jesus Christ. It's simply through faith in Jesus Christ. That's what this tent is all pointing towards. So let me just
give a couple, I'll give three simple points of application to wrap us up. One is of caution. I'll just use these three
words. You could write these down as your simple points of application. But these words would be caution,
holiness and confidence. Let me apply this. So the first has to do with kind of the general way that we read the
Bible. This would be the caution. The Old Testament scriptures, they anticipate Jesus. That's what Jesus himself
taught us. That his death and his resurrection are what the Old Testament anticipated. So when we read all
these intricate details about the tabernacle, we can see that it anticipates the life and ministry and death and
resurrection of Christ. And we can read this and think, wow, I need to figure out more about how the Old
Testament points to Jesus. That's really good. Once you have a Christ-centered lens for reading the scripture, it
is important that we start making connections that are actually legitimate and do not see the Bible as like a
magical book of symbolism. So some people, and you can read this stuff, could start studying the tabernacle and
they come to a number of interesting, symbolic interpretations. For example, you could read this and be like, oh I
bet the scarlet yarn that represents Jesus' blood and the blue yarn that's his royalty. And then there's these
wooden poles, that's probably his humanity. And then there's the gold poles, the gold overlaid, that might be his
divinity. It's interesting, but there's no reason to think it's accurate. It's an unsafe and allegorical way of reading
the Bible. Where everything, you think everything is symbolism. If we do want to make a connection to Christ
that is actually legitimate, the safest way to do that is by following the connections that the New Testament
writers are actually making. So in Hebrews 8, it tells us, they, this is talking about the tabernacle, serve a copy
and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God
saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. In
Hebrews tells us, the tabernacle and the priesthood, that was a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. Hebrews
9 tells us, when Christ appeared as a high priest, and the good things that have come, then through the greater
and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy
places. Not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption. So when we follow the connections to the Gospel and the work of Christ that the New Testament
writers actually make, then we're on safe interpretive ground with how the Old Testament legitimately anticipates
Christ. If we see potential symbolism, we should investigate, is this a connection the New Testament writers are
actually making that I'm seeing? And if it's not, well then it might just be red yarn. Or you can ask yourself, is this

a connection that the original audience would clearly have understood? If not, again, we have to be really
careful. That's just a caution. So, second point of application. If Jesus has come to tabernacle among us, that
means he dwells in our hearts. He dwells among all who have trusted in him by faith. The Holy Spirit dwells
within us as individual believers, and the Holy Spirit dwells among the church. The scripture says we're actually
the dwelling place for the Spirit of God. Paul says this to the Corinthians, do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You're not your own, you're bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body. Our bodies are dwelling places for the Holy Spirit. And that means our bodies are
no longer compatible with sinful behavior. That's not how they're meant to function. In the immediate context,
Paul is saying, so flee that. Flee that old way of life. It's an urge to holiness. God dwells among you, corporately
and individually. So when we think about what does it mean that Christ came to dwell with us, one thing is it
means holiness. And third, final point, great confidence. Hebrews 10 19-20 says, therefore brothers, since we
have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new living way that he opened for us
through the curtain, that is through his flesh, we can draw near to God based not on our performance, but based
on the work of Jesus. We can draw near with confidence. We don't have to evaluate how was my last week, how
was my last month. We can confess our sins and draw near to God. He came to dwell among us. Jesus has
opened the way back to God. And so we can draw near with confidence. Let's pray.