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Skip Heitzig: Toward the back, right in the center, was a tent structure. And that tent structure was 15 ft wide by 45 ft deep. It was divided into two sections. The first room is called the holy place. The holy place was 15 ft wide, 15 ft tall, 30 ft deep. If you were a priest and you were walking in on your left side, you would see a menorah, a seven-branched candlestick. And the priest would have to keep those lamps burning and trimmed every day. On the right hand side, so for you it would be this side, there's the picture, left hand side the menorah, right hand side the table that had 12 loaves of bread, each representing one of the tribes of Israel.

And right in front of you, in front of a veil, was a little tall altar where incense was burnt called the altar of incense. Then, beyond that veil was a cubicle that was 15 ft square, 15 ft wide, 15 ft deep, 15 ft tall. That's called the Holy of Holies. Nobody ever went into that room except one dude one day a year. That was the high priest. On the day of atonement, he would walk in. Um if you were a priest, you would replenish the bread, you would put oil in the lamps, you would burn incense on the altar of incense.

In the Holy of Holies, where the high priest would go once a year. Doesn't say so in the biblical text, but there are lots of rabbinic writings that say that it was such a fearful thing. Uh you you would approach the presence of God with such trepidation even as a high priest. Not only with elaborate sacrifices and cleansings for yourself, but even then, according to the rabbinical tradition, they would put pomegranate bells on the hem of the high priest garments. And so, the other priest could be outside on the other side of the veil kind of going like this, listening.

And they hear a little tinkles kind of a little motion going on. All is good. But if they hear a and then no tinkling bells after that, they know the high priest was killed over dead. So, they according to the rabbinical writings not only had bells, but a rope attached to one of the feet of the high priest. They would sort of drag him out. They're not going to go in and get them. So, they drag him out. Now, inside that room, the Holy of Holies was the most important article of the tabernacle called the ark of the covenant.

I don't have to describe it to you. You've all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, so you got a good visual. They did a pretty good job. It's only about 45 in long by about 27 in tall, 27 in wide. It was made out of wood, covered with gold except the top of it, the slab was called the mercy seat. Solid slab of gold. Inside that ark of the covenant, there were three things. Two tablets of the law. I should say the second copy of those two tablets of the law cuz the first one Moses breaks.

He has to make a new section, a new copy of them. Those are placed in the ark. Uh a golden jar of manna from the wilderness commemorating the manna. And Aaron's rod that budded, that distinguished him as being the guy above all the rest. So, those three things were kept in the ark of the covenant. The law that was in there was the law the children of Israel said, we'll do it, man. Whatever God says, we'll do it. But it was the very law they kept breaking over and over and over again. So, what was in the tabernacle was symbolic of their failure in the wilderness.

But God says, I'm going to meet with you between the cherubim on the top of that slab because that's where the blood was sprinkled. And when the blood was sprinkled on the top of that of that ark, it became the mercy seat. It's a place where God could apply mercy and withhold his judgment based upon the blood that was between the broken law and the perfect God. All a picture of atonement. Now, in Exodus 25 verse 21, the Lord says, you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And here it is, there I will meet with you.

And I will speak with you from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubim which are on the top or which are on the ark of the testimony. So, the tabernacle becomes to us New Testament believers a a picture a picture of Christ. There was one door into the tabernacle and there's one way into heaven. Jesus said, I am the door. The entrance to the tabernacle was on the east side of the tabernacle, which means whoever wanted to go to it had to pass through the tribe of Judah. And Jesus Christ was born from the tribe of Judah.

From the inside, the tabernacle looks splendorous, beautiful, ornate. There was gold, they covered wood, there were panels, there was artistry and beautiful architecture and four different layers over that holy place. But from the outside, it looked plain even ugly. It was prophesied in Isaiah chapter 53 concerning Jesus, he has no form or comeliness. There is no beauty in him that we should desire him. But the value was who he was, his person on the inside. Then, there was a menorah, as I mentioned, in that holy place. It was the only source of light in the tabernacle.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world. There was one section called the table of showbread. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. There was the altar of incense. The priest would offer the incense. That's the ministry of Jesus Christ today. He's our great high priest. Uh incense going up was a symbol used symbolic in the Old Testament of prayers going up before the throne of God. And the veil limited the access. Nobody could go into that veil. Nobody could go through into that Holy of Holies except the high priest one day a year.

When Jesus died on the cross, interestingly, the veil of the temple was ripped into from top to bottom. Right? Matthew 27 from top to bottom, the veil of the temple. God was going come on in. You can have access to me anytime, day or night. You don't have to go through a priesthood. You don't have to go through rituals. You come by faith and what my son did for you. It's a finished work. So, that's the uh tabernacle. Also, we should just make this statement quickly. It's also a model of heaven. When you stepped into the tabernacle in the wilderness, it was like stepping into a scaled down really scaled down model of heaven.

Hebrews chapter 8 says, they serve the priest at a sanctuary that is copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, see to it that you make everything according to the pattern that is shown you on the mountain. Now, we understand why so many chapters and so much detail was given to the building of the tabernacle. It was a model of heaven. And if you read Revelation, uh the sea of glass, the throne of God, you see the correspondence of the tabernacle to the throne in heaven.

By the way, I said 1/4 of this book is devoted to the tabernacle. Guess how many chapters in the whole Bible are? 50 50. Now, I bring that up for this reason. There's only two chapters in Genesis that deal with creation. There's 50 chapters in the Bible that deal with the tabernacle. Worship, approach to God, etc etc. So, the way God and how what God views as important can be seen by how much literary real estate he devotes to a particular subject, and in this case to the tabernacle, an awfully lot. Chapters 28 through 31 speak about the priests who minister in the tabernacle, what clothes they wear, what they're to do.

This is of course for Aaron and his sons. That's the priesthood. You know, when I was a boy, I grew up in a Catholic home. And I was the fourth of four boys. So, my my mom and dad were hoping that my oldest Jim would be a priest. Uh that's by the way, if you're not Catholic, that's always the hope of a Catholic family is one of their boys would be a priest. So, Jim was like their first hope and he did go to seminary. Uh but he got married. So, I kind of like nixed their hopes of a priest.

Then, Rick, the second born, he also went to seminary. Uh he didn't become a priest. He became a philosopher. Uh a lot of question marks going on with Rick after that. Bob, uh the third born, uh uh didn't go to the seminary. He joined the Hells Angels. Um and then I was their last hope, fourth boy. And um then I got saved. So, my mom was awfully disappointed. And she said to me she said, oh Skip, I always wish that you would become a priest. And I remember the day she told me that after I was saved, I said, mom, you got your wish.

I am a priest. All believers in Christ, the New Testament says, are priests of God. We're a nation of priests. You've got your desire. She she wasn't all that excited about my answer.

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Give at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922- 1888. Now, let's return to today teaching.

Skip Heitzig: Chapter 31, I want to just dedicate the next couple of verses to my artist friends just to show you that art does have a place. Verse 31 verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, see, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. Bezalel was already a recognized artist. This is God's special empowering upon him. Verse 4, to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, the cutting of jewels, for setting and carving wood, and to do work in all manner of workmanship.

So, his job was art, jewelry, and carpentry to which you say okay, but where is his ministry? Answer, that's it. That's it. Art, jewelry, carpentry. God called him to that. I'm bringing this up because we in our age of a very warped and and narrow view of ministry. I'm going into ministry meaning I'm going to seminary I mean seminary and I'm I'm going to become a scholar and a preacher or a worship leader. You can be a doctor and called into ministry. When I was working in the medical profession in radiology and I would bring books and I would read and I would share the gospel with people and what I've learning.

And and somebody said, do you ever think about going into the ministry? I said, I am in the ministry. I'm talking to you right now. And if I wasn't here, maybe you'd never hear the gospel. So, God put me here to talk to you and have this conversation. I am in the ministry. I'm in full-time ministry. Start seeing what you do as the call of God upon your life. And God will empower you to do what he's called you to do in that. I I was I had a friend named Barb who God called her to be a pool player.

I mean she was a pool shark. And she could beat anybody I I I met. I I ever knew. She her her style of evangelism is go was to go to a a bar or a pool hall and challenge the best guys in there to a pool game. And if I win, she said, you have to give me an hour of your time to listen to what I want to tell you. They said deal. And she would always win. And she would always share the gospel and lead some of those other pool sharks to Christ.

That's what God called her to do. I love that. Chapter 30 through four 32 through 40 is the last section that we skim over. This deals with their identity or their identification. The children of Israel have the covenant God made with them renewed. Why renewed? Because they broke it. As soon as Moses was getting the law from the mountain knows he hasn't even come down yet to give them the law. They're already breaking it. Now, remember they said, whatever God says, man, we'll do it. We'll do it. We're all in. Moses isn't even down yet and they have what I call their uh-oh moment.

Moses is away. The children will play. And it's like uh-oh. Verse one of chapter 32, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So, they broke off their gold earrings. And they their other jewelry brought it to Aaron. Verse 4, he received the gold. He made a molded calf. They said then after that, this is your God, oh Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Now, please remember this. It took one night for God to take Israel out of Egypt. It took 40 years for God to take the Egypt out of Israel. Their culture is so much a part of them, their background, that worldly way of thinking that they construct an image of a bull that would have reminded them of a God in Egypt called Apis, the God of strength, the bull God as the symbol of worship. Now, Moses comes down the mountain, comes to Aaron, gets in his grill. Verse 22. Aaron said, do not let your anger, the anger of my Lord become hot.

They don't get all hot under the collar, Mo. You know the people that they are set on evil. For they said to me, make us gods that will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And I said to them, whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So, get this part. They gave it to me and I cast it into the fire and this calf came out. Dude, Mo, it was amazing. We just threw this stuff in there and it's like poof, instant cow.

And it walked out. Seriously, Mo, you had to have been there. It is amazing the lame excuses that people have for stupid behavior. I uh was given a list of excuses, real excuses that people give police officers when they get pulled over. Uh just a couple of them. Man read ran two red lights. Ran two red lights. Police pulled them over for running the red lights, going too fast. And the man actually said, it's a V8, man. You try stopping it. And then he pulled over. Somebody else was pulled over for speeding and the man said, I had to speed.

He said this to the officer. I had to speed to get in front of you. What so you he could pull you over? I don't I don't get that. Another one said, I'm hurrying to the service station because I'm running out of fuel. And the classic is, I'm late for a funeral. Now, that last excuse a police officer friend of mine told me about this one to which the police officer responded, the next time you go to a funeral, you might be riding in the back of the hearse. You be careful. Question is this, as we're drawing this toward a close, what excuses do you have for not accepting Christ?

Because I bet if they were examined, they wouldn't be much different or better let's say better than Aaron's excuse to Moses. Now, I'm going to take you to chapter 33 and 34 real quickly. Moses has a personal encounter with God. This is right before they start obeying the Lord. This is sort of the renewal of the covenant. After that uh-oh moment, chapter 33 verse 11, the Lord spoke to face to face to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, one of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible. Verse 18 is a highlight. Moses said to him, Lord, please show me your glory.

And then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face for no one can see my face and live. So, God takes Moses, puts him in a cleft of a rock, hides him, and God says, I'm going to pass by and you will see my back. That is the back of my glory when I take my hand away, but my face shall not be seen.

This is where the concept of the afterglow comes from. God basically says, you can't see my face, but I'm going to pass by and you're going to look and just see the afterglow. You're going to see me pass by. Moses says, I want to see your glory. Now, if I'm there, I'm thinking, Mo, dude, when are you going to be satisfied? I mean you've seen miracle after miracle after supernatural um manifestation etc etc. That would be enough for most people. Let's say you've heard the voice of God. God meets with you privately in your tent.

Uh you've seen a Red Sea open up. You've seen water out of a rock. You've seen manna out of the sky. That'll be enough. But it's not enough for Moses. He wants to see the Lord's face. And I contend that no matter how well informed you are religiously, spiritually, you're not going to be satisfied until you see the Lord face to face. Which means all of our worship experiences on this earth as good as they might be were never meant to satisfy you, but meant to wet your appetite for that full unveiled face to face transformative moment when you're in the presence of God.

Chapter 35 through 40 is take two. Israel starts obeying the Lord. They bring supplies. They build the tabernacle. Chapter 40 down at verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in their journeys. If the cloud was not taken up, they did not journey until the day that it was taken up.

For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day and fire was over it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all of their journeys. So, we close at the appropriate place of the house of worship becoming the center of their community. God was at the center of the layout of the mapping of their tents in the wilderness. It was at the center of the nation, why they were to be a God-centered people. So, the book opens with the brickyards of Egypt. The book closes in the presence of God before Mount Sinai.

That's the message of Exodus to us. God wants to redeem you from bondage and be at the center of your life. Camping out with you, tabernacling with you. John 1 1, the word became flesh and literally tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory. I have a question I want to ask you as we pray. Everyone in this room has had a genesis. I know that cuz I'm looking at you right here. You had a beginning. You're alive. You've had a genesis. But not everybody in this room has had an exodus. Not everybody has been delivered from the bondage of a past life of a life of sin, of wandering away from God, and they're not walking in present redemption.

God wants to change that tonight. He wants to rescue you. He wants to deliver you, break the shackles of the bondage that you've been struggling with. And he does that by knocking. Knocking, he said, behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If you'll open the door, I'll come in. But guess what you have to open the door.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget about Pastor Skip's brand new devotional Soaring Above It All. This one year devotional gives you a panoramic view of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, helping you better understand God's word and stay engaged with it every day. Request your copy as our thanks when you give $50 or more to help bring clear Bible teaching to people around the world. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922- 1888. See you next time.

Guest (Male): Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.

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