Tabernacle pt 2  

The tabernacle reminds us that there is more to life than what is right in front of us.

• everything is an invitation to understand our lives in relation to God

“what comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

• The tabernacle becomes a way, not only to know what God is like but to know how God relates to us.

• God has created the world for us to find Him. We can look through to see the reality of God.

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

• The Scriptures tell us clearly that God reveals Himself are clearly perceived.

• When we look at the tabernacle we see directions for a building that houses some specific symbols or rituals. But the point is not to see the symbols and rituals as items or buildings or tents. But the idea is to be able to see through those things for what they are. Reminders that there is more to life than we think.

• Mary Oliver said that “attention is worship.” And that is the idea here. What we give attention to, what we see and focus on, becomes worship.

Big Things Up Close

• The tabernacle is kind of like a telescope. It helps us to see big things up close.

A picture of the cosmos

• The tabernacle is an image of God’s character but is a reflection of the cosmos. The images and the items in the temple communicate what God is like and what His creation is like.

There is Always a Table with Fresh Bread.

Exodus 25:23–24 ESV

“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it.

there is always and constantly bread in the tabernacle.

It is an invitation to know Him.

• God is clear about what He wants relationship to look like. Notice how He does that. He does that through images. Through pictures. What He shows us is the picture of what life can look like.

• There is a relational need for us to be near to God. We feel distant. God shows us that He is close. He is calling us into relationship with Him and providing the means to do it

Mercy is Always Offered

Exodus 25:10–16 ESV

“They shall make 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 shall you 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.

• IT is the place where God states He will meet with His people.

• God understands that concept and wants us to experience Him through the images He gives us. He tells us who He is by what we are seeing.

Exodus 25:22 ESV

There I will meet with you, 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.

• in seeing the ark of the covenant we see that God took great care and consideration for it and that His desire is that we would have access and meet with Him.

All that is true about the tabernacle is true in Christ.

• Christ is the bigness of God up close

Hebrews 1:1–3 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

• The things that we experience in the world are always more than what they are in the world. They represent something else something more.

• And the good news is that we can look at what God is given us and realize that we have been invited to experience life in Him. That He has made distant things up close, He has invited us to be in relationship to Him.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• That word, dwelt, means to tabernacle with us. Jesus came close to be with us and show us what life is like with God.

• We don’t have to want for more, we just are called to see through what Christ has revealed to us in trusting Him.

Notes will be available on Saturday Oct 7