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GOD REVEALS HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS SHOW HE CAN DWELL WITH HIS PEOPLEEXODUS 40:1-38INTRODUCTION Twenty years ago I read just about every book that Louis L’Amour wrote. For those of you who don’t appreciate good literature, the late Louis L’Amour wrote over 50 novels about the American west. One of his more common story lines went something like this: A drifter cowboy meets and helps a single woman with whom he falls in love, but is unwilling to admit his love to himself or her. She loves him as well but their affection for one another is unspoken, until the bad guys come and kidnap her or in some way imperil her life. The cowboy, when he learns of the girl’s danger can no longer deny his love for her and he single-handedly, at the risk of great bodily harm, rescues her from their evil clutches. The reason he is willing to risk everything for her is because he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Upon his successful rescue operation, their love for one another is openly declared and they get married and live happily ever after in the glorious mountains of Colorado. This story line is one of the most common of all plot lines in all kinds of stories, not just westerns. Our stories are full of men who risk their lives to free the women they love in order that they might rejoice in each other’s company forever. In a very real way this is one way of describing the story of the book of Exodus and of the entire Bible. The story of Exodus is the story of how God has worked to rescue his bride from the evil clutches of the Egyptian people. He did this so that he might live with her forever. He did it so that they might be satisfied with his love and love no other. There are a number of ways that this purpose of God, to rescue his people so that he can live with them forever, is stated. In Exodus 3 when the Lord first spoke to Moses about wanting to rescue Israel out of Egypt he told Moses that the reason he was going to deliver Israel and take them to the Promised Land was so that they would know his name, Yahweh. He told them that he was going to deliver them so that they could worship him, that is, be delighted with his love for them. Then later, when God explained the purpose behind the construction of the tabernacle he said to Moses, “They will know that I am Yahweh, their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them.” This has been the whole point of Moses intercession in Exodus 32-34 following Israel’s great betrayal in worshipping the golden calf. He has been seeking to persuade God that he should fulfill what he has promised in spite of Israel’s sin. He should come live with his people, guide them to the land of promise and take them as his very own possession. There is, however, one way that the story line of God’s story varies from the plot line in our stories. The women who our heroes rescue are invariably good and honorable women who love the one who comes to the rescue. However, the “woman” that God is rescuing in order to live with is an unfaithful woman. In short, to use the words of Exodus 34:15-16, she is a whore and yet God saves her in order that he might delight her with his love for her. What the Exodus story has pictured physically is exactly what Christ has accomplished for us spiritually. He entered the world and lost his life in order to rescue his captive, unfaithful people so that he might live with us forever. He has done it, as he prayed in John 17, so that we might see his glory and the glory of his Father. God rescues us so that we will be satisfied with the glory of his presence. He has done all that he has done to save us from our sins and bring us to himself so that we will be delighted with him and his love for us forever. As we look at this closing scene in the book of Exodus we are witnessing the completion of this great purpose that God has in saving his people. What he began to do in Exodus 1 he has now accomplished. He has overcome every barrier between him and his faithless bride and now comes to live with her so that she might enjoy his presence forever. MAIN POINT God saves his people so that he can satisfy them with the glory of his presence. Therefore…I. He has made a way so he can safely live with us (vv. 1-2 & 17-33) There is about a sixth month period of time from the day Moses came down off Mt. Sinai with his face glowing and the stone tablets in his hand until the day recorded in chapter 40. During this time the people of Israel have contributed all the material needed to build the tabernacle, its furnishings and the clothes for the priests. Two men, appointed by God, Bezalel and Oholiab, have overseen the craftsmen who have made the curtains and the frames and all the furnishings of the tabernacle and courtyard. Moses with his veiled face, has inspected all that has been made and has pronounced it all good. Now God commands that Moses build the tabernacle and arrange its furnishings and prepare Aaron and his sons to begin their ministry. It is no accident that God tells him to build the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the beginning of their second year of freedom from Egypt. This is the first anniversary of the day Israel left Egypt as free people. God wants the tabernacle built so that he can dwell with the people of Israel on the first anniversary of the day he led them out of their captivity. In a very vivid way God connects his saving them from their slavery with his goal to come and live with them in the tabernacle. Verses 3-16 are God’s command to build the tabernacle, vv. 17-32 are the description of how Moses did what God commanded. Moses built the tabernacle and arranged the furniture in it, we are told 8 times, “as the Lord commanded him.” This is a critical thing to emphasize in order to show that the tabernacle and the system of worship that takes place in it are not a man made religion. The tabernacle is God’s provision for his people. It is the way God has designed for him to safely live in the midst of these wicked people. Moses, the chosen mediator between God and man obeys God exactly as he establishes the means by which the sinful people of Israel will be able to draw near to him and have him live in their midst. Notice that v. 33 ends by saying this, “And so Moses finished the work.” Does that sound at all familiar to you? Our Lord Jesus Christ after hanging upon that bloody Roman cross for a period of three hours said “It is finished” and then he gave up his spirit and died. Like Moses before him, Jesus finished the work God gave him to do. As Paul says in Philippians 2, “He was obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Jesus did exactly what his Father told him to do. By his obedience to God's law during his life and his sacrificial death he did everything that was necessary for God to come and dwell with his sinful people. The really cool thing is that the tabernacle and the ministry of the priests in it is the visible sign in the OT of the spiritual work of Christ in his life, suffering and death. The ninth chapter of the letter to the Hebrews recounts this setting up of the tabernacle and its furnishings. It then goes on to describe the work of the priests in this tent and the surrounding courtyard. The author highlights the fact that only the High Priest and then only once each year could enter into the Holy of Holies, which is the place in the tabernacle where God said he would dwell among the Israelites. In v. 8 the author says, “The Holy Spirit was showing by this (the tabernacle and only the high priest being able to enter the Most Holy Place once each year) that the way into the Holy Place had not been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.” In other words, while this was the means by which God lived among Israel, the whole point of the system was to show that it was temporary. It merely pointed ahead to and prepared people for the one who would be the fulfillment of all that the tabernacle and priesthood and sacrifices only illustrated. The entire system argued for something or someone greater. Even in this text the incompleteness of this entire system is revealed. When the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle, not even Moses the chosen mediator who has talked with God as a man talks with his friend, face to face and who has seen the back of the glory of God, can enter. Moses' inability to enter poses two questions. First, why can’t Moses enter? Second, what will it take to qualify a person to enter into God’s glory? Moses' inability to enter again points to the fact that while he is the appointed mediator he is only a sinful human being. He is not inherently holy and so cannot enter the unshielded glory of God without perishing, just like he could not walk on the ground by the burning bush without removing his sandals and just like he could not see God’s unshielded glory on Mt. Sinai and live. Thus Moses’ lack of holiness points out the need for someone who has perfect holiness to be the mediator. This leads to the second question. What qualifies a person to enter into God’s glory? Holiness is the necessary requirement. Only a perfectly holy person can enjoy the unshielded glory of God. This points to the fact that we need a holy Savior who has a way of making us holy and blameless in the sight of God. We must possess God's very holiness if we are going to dwell with him. This is the predicament that God wants every one of us to feel. God has come near and offers himself to us but we know that we are not holy. We look at Moses, perhaps the holiest person we’ve ever known shut out from God’s glory and we have to wonder, if he can’t enter, then how will I ever enter? There have been so many times in my life when I have felt this. Many years ago I was teaching a class on how to study the Bible. I was having the class examine a passage in the first chapter of Colossians and make a list of 20 observations. While they were working I thought maybe it would be good if I took a look at it as well. I had done nothing to prepare for the class. In fact, the previous week had been spring break at the university where I was working with Campus Crusade and I had done nothing all week except watch high school and college basketball on TV. I had not read my Bible or prayed. I had not communicated with my wife or my children, except to tell them to be quiet so I could watch my sports without interruption. I actually was feeling quite guilty and like an enormous hypocrite as I taught the class. So as I began to look at the passage I was having the class look at these verses jumped off the page at me. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now God has reconciled you to himself by Christ’s physical body, through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Three things hit me like a ton of bricks as I read that passage. First, God had done everything necessary through Christ to make him and me friends again. He had reconciled me to himself through Christ. Second, because of Christ's obedient death I was holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation. My conscience was accusing me in an enormous way because of how faithless I had been to God and how unloving I had been to my family and how hypocritical I was to be teaching this class. Yet, because of Jesus, I was not accused by God but perfectly acceptable to him and living in his very presence. To use the picture from Exodus, I was in the tent with the glory of God, not standing outside it with Moses. But third, all this was true of me, not because I read the Bible or prayed or did anything but simply because I believed in Christ. I was united to Christ and the recipient of all this amazing stuff not because of what I did but because I believed that what Christ did, he did for me. I almost started crying. I silently confessed my sins to God right there and praised him for Christ. I went home and confessed my sins to my wife and children and asked them to forgive me. I’ve never done anything like that since then—NOT!! This is the Christian life. We are continually confronted with our lack of holiness, with how right it would be for us to be shut out of God’s presence. Then God reminds us through his word that we are not acceptable to him because of what we have done but only because of what he has done through Christ. So we continue to trust in Jesus and rejoice in this grace given us through him that qualifies us to enter the glory of God. God saves his people so that he can satisfy them with the glory of his presence. Therefore...…
II. He now lives in us and among us by his Spirit (vv. 34-35) Immediately upon Moses’ finishing of the work, the glory of the Lord settled upon and within the entire tabernacle. This is the visible answer to what Moses has been asking God for since the people worshipped the golden calf. God has come to live with and among his people. The cloud of his glory fills the tabernacle, which is the tent in which is contained the Ark of the Covenant. The cloud glows with holy fire and illuminates the tent from the inside out. It glowed like one of those paper bags with a candle it that people put out at Christmas time. In addition the cloud of his glory hangs over the top of the tent in a pillar that is visible in the farthest corners of the camp of Israel. It is this presence of God that Moses said is the only thing that would distinguish Israel from all the other nations of the world. God living with and among his people is the thing that identifies the people of God. In John 16:7 Jesus makes a very strange comment to the disciples the night before he was betrayed and killed on the cross. He tells them that while they are filled with grief because he has told them he is leaving, yet it is for their good that he is leaving. Jesus is going to "leave" them by dying on the cross. If I were to ask most of you what is the chief good that comes to us from Christ's death, you would say, "my sins are forgiven." That's not what Jesus says. He says the main reason we should be glad he died on the cross was that by his dying the Holy Spirit has come to live in us and with us. The benefit of Christ’s death for us is not merely our justification but, according to Jesus, the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and among us. Having our sins forgiven is only a means to an end: God dwelling in us and with us by his Spirit. This is exactly like Israel. Their deliverance from Egypt was a means to an end, not the end. We are now people who are indwelt by the Spirit and who live in the Spirit. Paul says in Ephesians 2:20-22 that we, the church, are the temple of God in whom God lives by his Spirit. The glory of God filling the tabernacle is the physical symbol and foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit filling us, the church. Just as visible signs manifested the coming of the glory of God to dwell in the tabernacle in the center of the camp, so visible signs accompanied the coming of the Spirit upon the church of Jesus. In Acts 2 when the glory of God, the Holy Spirit came upon the church there was an earthquake, the sound of violent wind, visible tongues of fire rested upon the head of each of the 120 disciples gathered in the upper room and they all began to praise God in the languages of the thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. This is the fruit of Jesus’ finished work on the cross and in the resurrection. Jesus finished his work and the glory of God, the Holy Spirit, filled the temple of God, the church, and manifested his presence in visible signs, just like Moses finished his work and the glory of God filled the tabernacle. The presence of God’s glory in us and among us by his Spirit continues to be manifested in visible signs. I do not have time here to explain all the visible signs but let me point out two passages that describe the visible evidences of the glory of God filling his church by his Holy Spirit. First, in 1 Thessalonians Paul tells these new Christians, “For we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction… You became imitators of us and of the Lord Jesus. In spite of severe suffering you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it; for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath.” Note the visible evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit that Paul mentions. First, like Jesus and like Paul they joyfully believed the promises of God even though their faith in those promises did not deliver them from suffering but even led to greater suffering. It is the consistent testimony of the NT that one of the chief evidences that the Holy Spirit is present in a community and in individuals is not that everyone is healthy, wealthy and enjoying a trouble free life. Rather you can know the HS is present when people are so joyful at being loved by God through Christ that sickness, persecution, financial trouble, unloving spouses, rebellious children, death of loved ones does not destroy their joy. Second, their faith in Christ was made visible by their turning from the sin of idolatry to live a life in service to the living God while waiting for Jesus to return. This radical reorientation of lifestyle was so visible that it had everyone in the surrounding region talking about how these once idolatrous people had rejected their idols and were now worshipping the Triune God. The proof that the HS has come upon people is seen in their joyful embrace of the gospel even while in the midst of profound suffering and their obviously not trusting and loving created things but instead trusting and loving the Triune God, Father, Son and Spirit. A second passage which describes the visible evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit is in 1 John 4. Again, there are two evidences mentioned by John that show that the Holy Spirit has come to live in and among a group of people. The first evidence is faith in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the NT. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and when he is present and at work, people believe the truth about Jesus, that he came in the flesh, that he is the divine son of God, that he died as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who trust him; these are a few of the doctrines that John says give evidence to the presence of the Holy Spirit. The second mark he mentions is love for other Christians. John says that the evidence that the Holy Spirit has given you divine life is that you love, not just tolerate and be polite to, other Christians. John says, if you do not love other Christians and yet claim to be born of God, you are a liar. Just as certainly as the glory of God’s presence came to dwell in the midst of the tabernacle in the middle of the camp of Israel when Moses finished his work so the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in his church as a result of Jesus finishing his work. Just as surely as the presence of God was visible in the tabernacle so is the presence of the Holy Spirit visible in the church through our joy in Christ in spite of severe suffering, through our radically reoriented lifestyles, through our orthodox faith in Christ and through our love for one another. Wherever you see these things you can be sure you are witnessing the presence of the Holy Spirit. God saves his people so that he can satisfy them with the glory of his presence. Therefore...…
III. He leads us safely home by that same Spirit (vv. 36-38) The final three verses of Exodus actually describe an experience that is going to happen in the future for Israel, not something that is happening in the story of Exodus. Because Moses has finished his work and thus the glory of the Lord has filled the Tent of Meeting, the Israelites can expect that the Lord will go with them and lead them to the land of Canaan. When God comes to be with a people he promises to bring that people safely to the land of rest, the Promised Land. He will do this by his manifest presence, which in the Old Covenant was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night resting over the tabernacle. Whenever, this pillar lifted up and moved from over the tabernacle, the people would strike camp and follow after the glory of the Lord. This same pillar of fire was present at the crossing of the Red Sea, protecting them from and then destroying the Egyptian army. It was present again when God provided quail and manna for food. It was present, not in the midst of them but outside the camp, always in front of them as they came to Mt. Sinai. This is the glory of God that was on the top of Mt. Sinai. However, now, the pillar dwells in their midst and leads them from within the camp to the places where they will find what they need to survive in the desert. This pillar will lead them, protect them and provide for them so that they make it safely into the Land of Promise. Paul’s description of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:12-27 picks up on this theme of God’s manifest leadership of the people of God through the sufferings of this world until we reach our final destination. His leadership is not primarily cast as telling us where we should live or who we should marry or whether or not we should buy a new car. Rather his leadership is that of enabling us to resist sin, to know experientially the love of God for us in Christ and to find hope in the midst of the sufferings of this world. This is the daily experience of the Christian that we depend upon the Holy Spirit to assure us of God’s love, to strengthen us in our fight against sin and for faith and that he prays for us when we don’t know what to pray, thereby gaining for us God’s help to persevere in faith through the many troubles and difficulties that are in this life. However, what I want to leave you with at the end of the sermon today is to see how the glory of God in the tabernacle which is the glory of God in his church now by his Spirit are both only small foretastes of the glory that is to be revealed to us at the consummation of the ages. If you will turn to Revelation 21:9 I want to show you the way in which the glory that is to come is pictured for us. There are four symbols here in Revelation that are taken from the OT and first expressed in Exodus. First, an angel tells John that he wants to show him “the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” Earlier in Revelation this bride was identified as the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles from every tribe, tongue, language and nation. The symbol of the people of God as God's wife or bride is common throughout the OT and was first used here in Exodus. However, notice that in v. 10 the angel doesn’t show John a bride but a city; in fact it is the Holy City, Jerusalem. It is a city that glows and glitters with the brilliance of the glory of God. Here is the second symbol, the manifest, glowing glory of God that fills his "temple", his people. This city is the church as symbolized by the twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve foundation stones, which are the twelve apostles. In other words, this is the whole people of God both Jew and Gentile. Then notice in v. 16 that the city is a perfect cube, 12,000 stadia on a side. The only other cube in the Bible is the Holy of Holies where God dwells with his people. Thus, here is the third symbol from Exodus. The church is the Holy of Holies where God lives. The ultimate state of the church is that we will live in the unshielded glory of God and he will live in us in all his glory. Then in v. 22 we find out that there is no temple in this city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The glory of God gives light to this city and it is in this light that all the nations walk. This is fourth symbol taken from Exodus. The glory of God not only fills the tabernacle but surrounds it. Just as the glory of God in the tabernacle makes the candlesticks unnecessary so the glory of God in his people makes the sun and moon unnecessary. God is all. There is nothing that stands between him and us forever. The metaphors in this passage as in most of the Revelation are all jumbled together and piled on top of one another to give a sense of the grandeur and the incomprehensible glory that awaits us. What these metaphors point to is the fact that we are going to live in a state of intimacy with the glory of God that Moses and we cannot even begin to imagine. We will share an intimacy with God that is similar to the intimacy of a husband and wife. We will be ablaze with the glory of God as we dwell with him in his very presence. God will live in us. We will share in the divine glory. The Lord God Almighty and the lamb will be the temple in which we dwell and we will be the temple in which he dwells. His glory will outshine and overwhelm the glory of every created thing, even the most magnificent of created things, the sun, moon and stars. This sharing in the divine glory is the end for which Christ has saved us and towards which the Holy Spirit is leading us and for which he is preserving us. It is sharing in this glory for which we now wait in hope. It is for the sake of this glory that we say no to the painted trifles of this world and to the fleeting pleasures of sin. Jesus finished his work so that we can enter into this glory. He sent the Holy Spirit to whet our appetites for this glory, and to preserve us for this glory. There is no glory in this world that can compare with the glory that awaits the faithful people of God at the return of Christ: Not the glory of family vacations, nor the glory of the Packers winning the Super Bowl, not the glory of straight A's on your report card, not the glory of friends and something to do on Friday night, not the glory of your favorite TV show, not the glory of marital union, not the glory of a successful career, not the glory of being independent of your parents, not the glory of drugs and alchohol. I beg you on behalf of Christ to live for no other glory than the glory of God filling and enveloping his people forever. God saves his people so that he can satisfy them with the glory of his presence. Therefore...…
© Copyright 2006 John Swanson.
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