The little boy, gasping for breath, replied, "I m in big trouble, Mom. God is missing and they think I did it!"

Transcription

1 Text: Exodus 30:17-21; 25:23-30 Title: Enter His Presence Pt.3 INTRODUCTION ILLUSTRATION I love the story of the little boy who was always getting into trouble, so his mother made an appointment with the pastor of their church to see if he could help the boy. The mother waited outside and sent her son in to talk with the pastor, who happened to be a huge man with a booming voice. The pastor looked at the boy and seriously asked: Where is God? The boy's mouth dropped wide open, but he said nothing. The pastor repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?" Again the boy made no answer. The clergyman got to his feet. Shaking his finger in the boy's face, he bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?" The boy screamed, ran out of the office and straight to his mother. Mom asked "What happened?" The little boy, gasping for breath, replied, "I m in big trouble, Mom. God is missing and they think I did it!" Well I m here to tell you that God is not missing. He is present; He wants to have a relationship with us. One of the names given to our Lord Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, which means God with us. But there s a big problem, and that is that we have a problem called sin that keeps us from entering the presence of a sinless God. But God made a way for us to enter His presence and to enjoy His presence through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. Now God revealed this to His people hundreds of years before Christ came. Open your Bibles to Exodus 30. Moses went up on Mt. Sinai where God gave Him the Ten Commandments, His Holy Law. But He also gave to Moses the design for something called the Tabernacle. It was an amazing thing a portable worship facility where Israel would meet God in their 40-year journey through the wilderness. God knew no one could keep His Law, and that reality would separate us from God. So He gave to Moses the plans for the Tabernacle where God would make His presence to dwell, and He would make it possible for sinners to come into His presence. In Exodus we have the details of the Tabernacle. We ve been looking at the various items inside that Tabernacle which show all that must happen for man to enter God s presence. We ve prepared a brochure for you to show you how things were arranged in the Tabernacle. Hopefully this will prepare us for Easter, just one month away. By the way you re beginning to see publicity about the plans we have for our Easter celebration this year. We have prepared for you an 8-day period in which we will think together as a church about the Defining Week of Jesus life culminating in the crucifixion and the resurrection. But also that week was the defining week for you and for me. We ll be telling you more in the weeks to come as we prepare for Easter. Last week we talked about the first thing you see when you enter the Tabernacle opening the Altar of Burnt Offerings. Today we re going to talk about two items, both of which have some very interesting connections to what our Lord did on the eve of His crucifixion in the Upper Room. At the

2 Altar for Burnt Offerings sacrifices were offered that made possible the forgiveness of sin. More toward the center of the Tabernacle enclosure we find the next item. TABERNACLE ITEM #2 BASIN FOR WASHING Now we have the fewest details about this item of all the items found in the tabernacle. Exodus 30:17 (NIV) - Then the LORD said to Moses, Exodus 30:18 (NIV) - Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. The Basin for Washing is sometimes called the Laver. We get our word lavatory from that word a place for washing. We don t really know what it looked like, but it would have probably been something similar to this. Now the location is strategic to the work of the priests. It is situated between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, right in the traffic pattern of the priests as they offered sacrifices on the Altar of Burnt Offering then moved in to the Tent of Meeting (the inner tent) for the ministry there in the presence of God. Keep that in mind as we continue. So there is the construction and the location. Next there is given the the function of the basin. Exodus 30:19 (NIV) - Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Exodus 30:20 (NIV) - Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the LORD by fire, Exodus 30:21 (NIV) - they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come. So Aaron and his sons were the priests who ministered in the Tabernacle. When they were ordained we re told that they were washed completely before they dressed in the sacred garments made for the priests. But this Basin for Washing was for the purpose of continual cleansing for the priests as they went about ministering the offerings during the day. Now this is serious business so that they will not die is mentioned twice (vv.20-21). To come into the presence of the Holy God we need continual cleansing. So here is what we have: ON SCREEN - The Basin for Washing represents man s need of cleansing from sin and for service. You see, the NT tells us that we, as the Church, are a kingdom of priests. We have the privilege of entering into the presence of God, just like Aaron and his sons. And just as those OT priests needed continual cleansing, so do we.

3 Psalm 24:3-4 (NIV) - Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. EXAMPLE: Remember on the night before Jesus was crucified, and before they shared together in the Passover meal Jesus shocked His disciples by preparing to wash their feet the work normally reserved for menial slaves. When Jesus came around to Peter, Peter resisted: John 13:6 - He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? John 13:8 No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. We need continual cleansing from sin. As we live each day, we think things we shouldn t think, we say things we shouldn t say, we do things we shouldn t do. So we need cleansing. Hebrews 10:22 - let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ILLUSTRATION My little grandson Cooper is a typical boy. He likes to eat stuff he shouldn t eat. His parents don t have to run a vacuum cleaner at their house since Cooper started crawling. Nan and I saw a TV commercial the other day about a new device that allows a doctor to look inside someone s stomach when they first see them just a little hand-held device. I said, Nan, wouldn t it be cool to have one of those to see what s inside Cooper s stomach at the end of the day? She didn t think she wanted to know. One day he was at our house and I heard this smacking sound and I looked over and Cooper was licking the hardwood floor. Dirt doesn t bother him at this age. But hopefully there will come a time when it does. The same thing is true spiritually. When we re new in the faith, sin doesn t bother us as much as it should. We re still learning to distinguish between what pleases the Lord, and what doesn t. The more mature we are in the faith, the more we feel the need for continual cleansing. Sin is not the only reason for cleansing. These priests needed cleansing because they were serving. They were entering God s presence in behalf of the people. SERVICE - 2 Timothy 2:21 - If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. And the main tool God uses in this cleansing is His Word. John 15:3 - You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

4 By the way, there s another interesting bit of detail we have about the Basin for Washing. We re told in Exodus 38:8 that Exodus 38:8 (NIV) - They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They didn t have glass mirrors like we use today. They used the same material that was used to construct the different pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle. The women s bronze mirrors were not used on the Altar of Burnt Offering, but they were used for the Basin for Washing. Why? When the priests leaned over the wash their hands and feet at the Basin, they could probably see a reflection of themselves. And that is the ministry of the Word of God a mirror to show us our sin and to cleanse us from our sin. Now as we move through the courtyard of the Tabernacle enclosure we come to another tent a tent that is divided into two parts. The outer room is called the Holy Place. As the priest walked into this area that is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, he would see three items. Immediately to his right is the next item we ll study. TABERNACLE ITEM #3 TABLE OF SHOWBREAD Sometimes this is called the Table of Presence. The instructions for the table are given in Exodus 25. Exodus 25:23 (NIV) - Make a table of acacia wood two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high. So we have the dimensions. It s not a large piece of furniture: It s about 3ft long; 18in deep; 27in high. Exodus 25:24 (NIV) - Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. Now we notice immediately that this table and everything else from this point on will be overlaid with pure gold as opposed to bronze. Why? Well, we re getting closer to the presence of God, so gold is the most valuable substance, and only the best is to be used in the worship of God. On the inside, when you looked up, instead of an outer curtain of badger skin that looked rather drab and unattractive, you saw a beautiful embroidered linen cloth. Exodus 25:25-28 (NIV) - Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are. The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them.

5 Remember, the Tabernacle was portable. Whenever the glory of the Lord moved, the Israelites were to pick up and move with it. So everything had to be packed up, placed in covers and transported. The priests were responsible for carrying everything related to the Tabernacle. We know from Numbers 4 that it took over 8500 Levites to carry all the pieces of the Tabernacle. Exodus 25:30 (NIV) - Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times. So we have here a table. A table is a place where fellowship and communion take place. That s evident in our society and just about every other society in the world. Meals are not just about putting food in our stomachs; it s a social occasion a time for meeting together and relating to someone else. So this table signals to us that there s relating and connecting going on here between God and His people (represented by the priests). The bread of the Presence means literally the bread of faces. It tells us that what is displayed on this table and what happens around this table is about faces God coming face to face with His people. Now the description ends here without telling us much more about this bread of the Presence or Showbread that is set before the Lord at all times. However Leviticus gives us more detail here and it s a fascinating picture that is portrayed for us. Leviticus 24:5-7 (NIV) - Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the LORD by fire. So on the table were placed 12 loaves of bread. They were in two stacks six loaves per stack for a total of twelve. Clearly this signifies the people of God all twelve tribes of Israel. Leviticus 24:8 (NIV) - This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. Every Sabbath, Aaron and his sons would eat the bread and new, freshly baked bread was laid on that table. And this happened week by week. So this was a regular meal signifying something that Israel needed to be reminded of every week. It s important to see that this was to be done regularly, like clockwork, every Sabbath. And the bread stayed before the Lord continually. Leviticus 24:9 (NIV) - It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the LORD by fire. Remember that all the Tabernacle is a picture of the completely, eternal priestly work of Jesus Christ in the Cross, the Resurrection and His Ascension to the right hand of God. And in that Jesus is pictured as a priest who goes into the presence of God to offer sacrifices in our behalf.

6 So here is what we have: ONSCREEN - The Table of Showbread represents God s united, pure people enjoying the continual fellowship with God. UNITED There were twelve loaves of bread on that table, stacked together. So I m not just a Lone Ranger believer. There is some evidence that these loaves were made from a single lump of dough 12 loaves made from a single batch of dough. 1 Corinthians 10:17 (NIV) - Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. PURE The loaves were made without leaven (yeast). In the Bible most the time yeast symbolizes sin, and it has a devastating effect on our fellowship with each other and with God. Remember when the Israelites were getting ready to leave Egypt, as part of the observance of the Passover they were to go through their house and remove all leaven. It was a picture of purity. In I Corinthians we have Paul dealing with a problem in the church at Corinth. There was a man committing open sexual immorality. The church at Corinth didn t want to deal with the guy. They just shrugged it off. Maybe they said, Let s just live and let live. Don t judge. You see God loves you as you are, but He loves you too much to leave you as you are. So Paul said, You ve got to deal with this: 1 Corinthians 5:6-7 (NIV) - Your boasting is not good. Don t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. CONTINUAL - Acts 2:46 (NIV) - Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, CONCLUSION And as they did, they regularly shared together in the Lord s Supper. Sometimes the Lord s Supper is called Communion, signifying the communion we enjoy together as God s people and with the Lord. OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD S SUPPER