Tabernacling The World

Exodus 40: 34 - 38

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Would you now stand for the reading of God's Word? Our passage this morning is Exodus chapter 40, beginning of verse 34. It's page 87 in your Red Pew Bibles. If you didn't bring a Bible of your own, should be one that looks like this right here. If you want to hunt one of those up, should be one nearby. Turn to page 87. Again, Exodus chapter 40, beginning of verse 34. We'd like for everyone to be able to see the passage as it's being preached.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Thanks be to God. Thank you, LG. Recent graduate LG. Would you join me in prayer as we come now to God's word this morning? Let's pray together. Father, we still and quiet our hearts before you this morning as we have come into your presence. We have come to meet you. We have come to bring you our praises. We have come to bring you our offerings. Lord, we have come to hear from you. So would you come now through the presence and the power of your spirit? Would you speak to us through your word? In Christ's name we pray. Amen. So this morning, uh this week, I had a conversation with one of my sons, Gray. I'll go ahead and say Gray. So uh it became uh it came to my attention that Gray did not believe that Michael Jordan was the greatest NBA basketball player of all time. And I was disturbed by my own lack and failures in discipleship with my children. And he proceeds to actually arguing with me that Michael Jordan was not the greatest NBA player of all time, and I was just incensed. Was it Wimby? That you're I'm God I was telling him, no, he didn't think it was Wimby. Who did you think it was?

unknown 3:11

Uh LeBron James.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

LeBron James. Not not even close. But, anyways, so I was this came up because I was watching The Last Dance the other night. It was uh, you know, the story of the NBA dynasty, uh the Chicago Bulls under Michael Jordan. And uh I was sitting there and I was watching it, and they just started rolling through his highlight reels. And I hit pause and full of the Holy Spirit, I hollered upstairs, Gray, get down here. And he's like, Am I in trouble? Said, no, come here. And I sat him down and I said, I want you to just watch this. Right? And after he had seen what Michael Jordan had done, there was no more argument. It was over. It was over. He confessed at that point. If you've seen The Last Dance, it it's it's really a tremendous documentary about Michael Jordan that I think might be one of the most dominant players in any sport of all time. I mean, they they they pointed out in in uh in the documentary that in in one season he won the NBA finals, the finals MVP, the league MVP, the dunk contest, oh yeah, and defensive player of the year. How does that even happen? Like he cleaned every every superlative there was in the entire league. That you see my point here, right? But here's one of the things if you've seen that documentary that really stands out, he's not happy. He's empty. You know, throughout the documentary, they're they're interviewing him and they're talking to him, and you can just see it in his eyes. He's empty. You know, you would think, you know, here's someone who's done it all. They've accomplished everything. They are the goat. There's no argument. They've achieved the highest level. They have all of the fame and the wealth and the notoriety and the popularity that a human being could ever hope for. And he's miserable. And I think it's important to see that because I think there's something deep down in us that thinks if I have this, I'm gonna be okay. Now, the this it varies and it actually changes as we go through life. And it's different for probably many of us in here, but it's it's a part of why we get so enamored with, I think, celebrities in our culture, because we see these people who have tremendous gifts and tremendous achievements and wealth and fame, and we look at them and we think, man, that would be it. I'd be good then. So often in our lives, it's something that we're chasing after in our life. Maybe it's the changing of a circumstance, maybe it's something to happen in our life, maybe it's uh getting something in your life or achieving something or a relationship. You know, it varies as many of us as there are in this room. But it's it's the shape of the human heart that we're chasing after something that's gonna make us whole, something that's gonna fulfill us. Because the reality is that there is a deep emptiness in the human heart. It's true for every human being. There is a deep void, an emptiness, a hunger, a longing for something that cannot be found in this world. And so so often we spend our lives chasing after this or that or this or that, trying to fill the void within. But the fundamental reality is that nothing in this world ever will. Because the shape of that void is God Himself. It's what we were made for. This morning we're gonna see the only thing that can fill and satisfy the emptiness in the human heart. Here's what we'll see: being filled with the presence of Jesus satisfies us and empowers us to fill the earth with his kingdom. So let's look at our passage and we are closing the book of Exodus. We started this series in Exodus last September. And so we have walked through this story, the book of Exodus, which is the formational story of Israel. This is God's people's identity. This is who they are. They are the people that God has rescued out of Egypt. And as we walk through the book of Exodus, we've seen God rescuing them out of slavery in Egypt through the blood of a lamb. And then at Sinai, he enters into covenant with them, gives them the law, something that would set them apart from all of the peoples in the world. And then we saw the last third of the book is all about the tabernacle, the building of this tent, this temporary sanctuary that God says, this is going to be my dwelling place. And we remember as we walk through all of the instructions and the details of the tabernacle that would prepare them to encounter God's very presence. The tabernacle would be the place that God's presence would come to dwell on the earth. The passage that we're looking at today is the climax of the story. As we walk through all of it, in fact, this was the goal for which God rescued them out of Egypt. It was not just to set them free and say, good luck, hope it goes well with you. No, God's purpose in redeeming and rescuing them out of slavery was this: that he might dwell in their midst. It was his longing. And so we see that at the book of Exodus, it's happened. This rescued people that have been set apart from the world. The tabernacle has been built, and previously, as we were to read through all of chapter 40 here, it is the setting up of the tabernacle. They're obeying the Lord and all of the details of the tabernacle. And remember, as we walk through many of those in past sermons, we saw that all these details are intended to communicate something about who God is and who they are, the holiness of God and the need for atonement and to be cleansed to enter his presence and how that happens through sacrifice. We've seen all of that. But in verse 40, we see they've done it. They've made and built the tabernacle and everything according to what God has prescribed for them. And then we read just before our passage that we read this morning, the very end of chapter 33, it says this. And so Moses finished the work. Now the word there is the same word that is taken from Genesis 1 and 2. He wants to connect us there. They were going back to the garden. Remember, the garden was the temple of God, the dwelling place of God with his people. And of course, that was all shattered through human sin. And so all of the story from the garden to this point is about God working his people back to this place where yet again he can dwell with his people. And so the tabernacle has been finished. And now, in what we're looking at in our passage, God comes to dwell in their midst. He comes down to fill the tabernacle. The significance that we see here throughout this is the presence of God. That the presence of God is life itself. And that God wants to be near his people. He wants to be in their midst. And we read in the passage here as it's completed, we see the cloud comes down. This is verse 34. The cloud comes down and covers the tent of meeting. The glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle. Now remember the cloud, we've seen throughout Exodus, throughout the Old Testament, the cloud and fire is often the way that God manifests his presence to his people. Saw that at the burning bush. We saw that on Mount Sinai. Now here at the tabernacle. So this cloud, just take this in, if you can. This cloud comes down to God's very presence comes down over the tabernacle and then fills the tabernacle. What's happening? God's presence, his holy presence is coming down in the midst of his people, in the tent, which is the tabernacle. God is with them, and he is in their midst. And then we're told that this cloud, God's presence, was to guide them in all that they did. That the cloud would come down over the tabernacle, and as God was in their midst, they stayed put. Right? Now they got somewhere to go. They've got a purpose, they've got things to do. They've got something ahead. They've got an unfulfilled promise. That is the promised land. That was God's promise to Abraham. You are going to inherit this land. I'm going to plant you there. They're not there yet. They've come out of Egypt, but they're not home. They've got a mission. But that mission was to be led by God in their midst. They were not to go without him. They're going to try in the future. It's not going to work out well. You ever experienced that? God's presence was a guiding presence. That God wanted to be in their midst, but he also wanted to be the one that led them in mission, that led them where they would go. And so the cloud would come down and cover the tabernacle, and they stayed put. When the cloud would lift and God would lead them, they would go. God's presence was the guiding presence to carry them everywhere that they would go. Now, what is the significance here of presence? And we know this a little bit when we think about our human relationships, our relationships with the people that we love in our life. There is no substitute for presence. To be with someone, you know, it's not the same to talk to them on the phone, it's not the same to write them a letter or an email. It's not the same. Anytime you have been at a distance or separated for a period of time with someone that you deeply love, you know there is no substitute for presence because presence is intimacy. It's connection. It's nearness. So if we experience that in human relationships, infinitely more with the presence of God. That we were made not just to know God in our head, not just to obey Him in our lives, but to live with Him, to experience His very presence in our midst. And it's also that God's presence that brings security. You see, if you go with me, I can do it. I can go there. I can walk into the darkness if you're with me. Right? You see the power of the presence of God. You know, we can face or walk through anything in life. God, if only you will be with me. This is the significance of the presence of God and what we're made for. Now, as I was looking at this, meditating on this this week, I was astounded by something in the passage. And I don't know if it grabbed you when you were hearing it read. Okay? So just get where you can see here, okay? Notice in the description here. The tabernacle is completed. God's presence comes down and it fills the tent. And look at this description. Verse 35. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. I was taken by that. You know, God has come down to fill the tabernacle and be in the midst of his people, but it is this description, the intensity of his presence, that God flooded the tabernacle. You know, you can imagine the experience of Moses. You know, he's got instructions, and it's important you follow the instructions in tabernacle worship. You know, you've got to be cleansed, you've got to go through all of the ritual in order to approach the holy presence of God. And so Moses and the Israelites and the priests, they've all got their instructions, and they're coming into worship, and they know the things that they're to do, and they're prepared to do those because they're launching worship. This is their launch service for the tabernacle, and they come in there and God rushes the tabernacle so much they can't even move. They can't even do their stuff. And what I want you to see here, and here's what took me, is God's heart. The deep longing of God's heart to dwell in the midst of his people. That's what's being demonstrated. It's almost as if God is saying, at last, that God has been longing ever since the garden to be with his people, to dwell in their midst, and now finally God can't resist. He can't wait any longer, and he floods the tabernacle. You can imagine them saying, What do we do? I I can't see the altar, I can't see anything. What's happening here? It doesn't matter what we do, but God is here. It is a picture of the deep heart and longing of God to fill us, to be in our midst, to be near to us, and it's demonstrated by this picture. The same thing happens later when Solomon builds the temple in 2 Chronicles. They've built the temple, and the temple is just the permanent tabernacle. You know, the tabernacle was a tent, it was movable. You'd set it up, you'd worship, when it's time to go, we're gonna break it down, and we're going, right? But the intention was always for the tabernacle to give way to the temple, a permanent place that would be in Jerusalem. And finally, that temple is built by Solomon, and they they everything is arranged according to plan. Everything looks just like the tabernacle, and they have this huge service of consecration, first worship service, right? And they get everything set up, and everybody, all the priests are there, and they got all the stuff going, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple, and the priests couldn't even perform their duties. Do you see it? Do you see it's God's overwhelming delight to fill his people? It just fills the temple, and they can't, it's it's like God has said, I want you to do all this stuff, oh, I can't resist, I'm just filling the whole thing. It is a picture of the very heart of God to fill his people with his very presence. So, how does that apply to us? And one of the things that we've seen as we've walked through the book of Exodus is that Exodus is all like a shadow pointing to something that is far more real. And everything that we see in Exodus finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. And we've seen that every week. That everything in the Exodus story, everything that God is doing, all the ways in which he's rescuing his people, providing for his people, everything is pointing to Jesus and finds its fulfillment in Jesus in a far more glorious way than you could ever anticipate from the old covenant. So, how does this apply to us in Jesus? How does this find its fulfillment in Jesus? Now, one of the things that we've said is that the New Testament, the New Covenant shows us that Jesus is the tabernacle, the fulfillment of the tabernacle. You remember that? You know, John chapter 2. The word became flesh and tabernacle among us. That's the word that John uses. He wants to make that connection. All that we would know about the tabernacle, the dwelling of God and his people, John wants to say, yeah, that was just a shadow. The real thing is Jesus. In the person of Jesus, God comes to dwell with us, not in a cloud, but in his one and only Son. God comes to be in our midst, in the person of Jesus. But even more astoundingly, the New Testament tells us that through Jesus, through faith in him, through union with him, we become the tabernacle. It's amazing. The ultimate chakra that we become the tabernacle. We, the church, those called out of the world and united to Jesus and to one another, we become the dwelling place of God in the earth. You know, we'd look at the tabernacle here in Genesis 40 and say, wow, that's amazing. And what the New Testament writers want to say is that. Ain't nothing compared to the reality of being united to Christ and filled with the Spirit. So I was meditating on this this week, and uh we're just taking to Ephesians. And Ephesians is just Paul's just working this theme like a fiddle, just throughout the book, okay? And and so I come to Ephesians, and Ephesians is all about this. This is this is what he says at the end of chapter two. He says, in him, who's him, it's Jesus. In Jesus, through union with Jesus, we are being built together to become a dwelling. All right, what language is he using here? Tabernacle. We are the tabernacle. But we in Jesus are being built together, being fit together to become a dwelling, a tabernacle in which God lives by his spirit. You see that connection Paul wants to say. We are the tabernacle. The presence, the holy presence of God in the earth comes to fill us. He wants to flood his church with his very own presence. That's what Paul wants us to see. Paul talks about the fullness of God. Now, I didn't see this before. I started reading, I was reading through Ephesians this week, and I'm like, oh my goodness. He's just using Exodus to do this whole thing. But fullness, you know, this idea of filling, it's everywhere in Ephesians. Sorry, they're very similar words. Ephesians. Right? So, Ephesians 1, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. That's who God is. He's the filler. He wants to fill. He wants to fill us. He wants to fill the earth. He wants to fill his creation with his very own presence. Chapter 5. Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. That's his command, right? So, you know, to get drunk is to take in something, to indulge in something that influences you. And why do we do it? To try to fill the emptiness. Now it's just one example of the many things that we can use to try to fill the emptiness, right? He says, don't do that. It just leads to emptiness and death and debauchery, right? Instead, be filled with the Spirit. That's the only thing that is going to satisfy you. It's what you're made for. Be filled with God through the Holy Spirit. And then this in chapter three. Now, this is Paul's great prayer in chapter three. And I've read this prayer before, but I've never seen it in the light of Exodus. But listen at what Paul prays. This is Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church. This would be his prayer for us. Here's what he prays. He prays that out of God's glorious riches, this is chapter 3, verse 16, that he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. All right? So God would work in us through his spirit in our inner being, in the very center of who we are, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Do you hear Exodus there? That Christ would dwell in us through faith, by the power and filling of his spirit. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all God's holy people. You see, it's just church kind of dynamics here, okay? To grasp how wide and long, high, deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge. That's an interesting thing to pray, right? I pray that you would know a love that's unknowable. In other words, the love of Christ is so vast, we can spend the rest of our life growing and deepening in our understanding of the love of Jesus and never get close to the end of it. You're never going to fully comprehend it. That's what he wants us to see about the love of Jesus. That we come to know through the work of the Holy Spirit in us. But here's how he closes it: that you may know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. You see that connection there, okay? Through the Holy Spirit, as we come to experience the love of Jesus, we are filled with the fullness of God. That's his intention for the church. That's his intention for you. That you would be filled with God, just like a tabernacle. That you would be filled. Now, what does that look like? To be filled means my deep experience of the love of Jesus is filling and overflowing through the presence and power of Holy Spirit. That's good stuff. So let's do a little application here. Are you being filled with the presence of God? Just a great question to work. Like, not do I understand good theology or what we're talking about here, but is this an experience I personally know? Right? Are you experiencing the filling and the presence of Jesus through his spirit? You know, the problem is, like we said earlier, the problem is that we have this deep tendency to fill our emptiness with other things. That's one of the great challenges to our experience of the presence of God in our life. I mean, to that question, many of us might be sitting here this morning and be like, experience? Presence? I don't know that I know what you're talking about there. And it is possible to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit and yet to be utterly unaware of his presence. In fact, not only is it possible, it's common. It's common. It's common to be in union with Jesus, to have his spirit, and yet have no ideas in me. Like we just live as strangers. And the problem is that we have this deep tendency to fill our emptiness with other things, with entertainment. You know, years ago, I think it's probably been like 30 years ago, a guy named Neil Postman wrote a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death. It was talking about our culture and this just insatiable appetite for entertainment. I'm like, my gosh, could he have imagined the day that we live in today? Could he have imagined? I mean, how we, I mean, we we find ourselves with so much leisure, and I know we feel like we have no time. I get that. We feel like we're so busy. But do you know that we have more leisure time? We have more choice in our time than ever before, and yet we're busier than ever before because we are filling it with so much stuff, and so often it's entertainment. You know, it's it's it's golf, sports, video games, it's our iPhones. I mean, I it's amazing to me this deep tendency I see in my heart. When I am tired, when I am exhausted, when I'm flat, when I'm discouraged, when I'm beat up, do you know what I want to do? It's just like a reflex in me. I want to pick up my phone. I just want to scroll. I want to escape. You know, I want to look at something, or let me go to ESPN, or let me go, you know, I want to find something to help me escape. I want to entertain myself, I want to amuse myself as a way to kind of fill the emptiness, but it doesn't work, right? You know this. It doesn't work. There's no matter how much entertainment we fill ourselves with, how many cool experiences we have or places we go or things that we acquire, it's just not gonna do it. For some of us, we try to fill the emptiness with work, just busyness. You know, you ever find yourself unable to stop? You know, Blaise Pascal, a theologian in the uh in the 20th century, he he said all of man's problems stem from his inability to sit quietly with himself at three o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon. There's just inability to just sit and be still. Probably a lot of us don't even know what that means, right? Because we're always doing, we can't stop. What's why are we doing that? Why can't we rest? Right? Here's the thing to take away, okay? God wants to fill you with himself. Not not just that he is willing, not that he's like, okay, if you nag me enough, I'll do it. But the thing that we see in Exodus is that it is the deep longing of his heart to fill you with himself. Do you believe that? That the God of heaven wants to live in you and live in us as his body. He wants to be present with us. And then, secondly, that God wants to fill the earth through us. You know where the story ends? The story of the Bible? Go to Revelation. The story of the Bible ends not with us being beamed up to heaven, but with God's holy presence coming down to the earth. Read it. I'm not making that up, okay? And it is the hope of the Bible. We're not going to go sit on clouds, all right? God is coming to us. He's going to return and make his home with us. And the description in Revelation 21 and 22 is stunning in its Exodus and tabernacle language. That, you know, one of the things it says is there's no temple in the New Jerusalem. You know, the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to the earth. The kingdom of God fills the earth, and it says, There ain't no temple there. Why is there no temple? Because God and the Lamb is the temple. Presence, fullness, face to face.

unknown 33:45

Right?

SPEAKER_01 33:46

That's the ultimate end of all the things that God would dwell on the whole earth. Fill it with his kingdom, fill it with his presence. As Habakkuk says that the earth would be full of the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the seas. How do the waters cover the seas? Total saturation, it is the sea.

unknown 34:07

Right?

SPEAKER_01 34:07

That's the ultimate end of all things. So do you see what we are called to be is tabernacles going out into the world to fill it with his very presence. That we would be a people filled with God, and that we would go into all the places that God has put us, bringing the very presence of God. That's our mission, that's our calling. Now you've got to be filled in order to bring God's presence, but that we would be filled and that you would go into the places God has you. Your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, classroom, ball field, right? Talking to you two kids. Our calling is in all the places God takes us to be filled with God's presence and to bring his presence into those places. That's our calling. That's how we usher the kingdom of God in, knowing that one day it's going to flood the whole place. Right? That changes the way you look at things in your life. Like God's will is that his presence would be manifested in your marriage. That his presence would flood your family. And that is life. To know and experience the presence of God is life itself. That God wants to fill Dade County with his presence and look out valley with his presence. Look out mountain with his presence, sand mountain with his presence. Right? How do you know that? Because you're there. That's his purpose for your life. To fill you that you might be this tabernacle, taking God's presence into the world. So this morning we get to respond by coming to the communion table and take communion together. And communion is not merely a memorial. It's easy to think that, especially in our part of the world, that this is simply something we do to remember something, remember what Jesus did. And we do do that. This is about remembering. But even more than that, it's about encountering. It is about the presence of Jesus that at this table we experience, we taste, we consume by faith that we feed on Jesus, that we feed on the gospel, that his Spirit is present at the table to feed and to fill us in order that we might be empowered to go fill the earth with his very presence and glory. That's what happens at communion. Father, we confess before you that we have gone our own way, that like the Israelites, we have sought life and fulfillment and wholeness and satisfaction and created things rather than in you the spring of living water. Father, we praise you and thank you for the shed blood of Jesus that now cleanses us by faith. Would you wash us? Would you fill us with the power of your spirit? And would you form us into the person of Jesus? And would you set apart these common elements for holy use? In Christ's name we pray. Amen.