Exodus 27 (Click title for audio access)
"Build It And He Will Come!" • 4.31.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study
Intro.
- When one asks the question, "Does God care how He is worshipped?" one need not look any further than Exodus 25, 26 and 27.
- These three chapters include very specific instructions regarding the construction of the Tabernacle, which was the place where God would meet with Israel, who would in turn worship Him.
- The Tabernacle campus was meant to be portable, but when it was assembled, it would be assembled in the very exact fashion that is described here.
- The first thing that we learn about the worship of God is that this is primarily for Him. This will be a sanctuary set apart for Him. Consequently, that is how He instructs Moses to construct it.
- God gives Moses the specifications for the inner most pieces of the Tabernacle and then works His way out.
- What is given to us currently is not comprehensive. There are other pieces that will be discussed later.
- The first pieces constructed are found in the Holy Of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant, with it's mercy seat and the cherubim looking into the chest.
- Then moving outward, into the Holy place, God instructed that they make the table of showbread as well as the golden lampstand.
- Everything that we see in the tent of meeting is made of acacia and overlaid with gold speaking typologically of Christ and His person.
- Tonight, we come to the outer court, which is the third section of the tabernacle campus.
- The High Priest would enter the Holy Of Holies once a year, on the day of Atonement.
- The Priests would enter the Holy Place to maintain both the bread and the lighting of the Menorah. The outer court was where the God's people could come.
- Tonight, we'll get an idea of what it was that they saw.
Text
• Exodus 27:1-8 : "You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it." : The brazen altar was the first piece of furniture that you would encounter when you came into the outer court.
- The altar is a place of sacrifice, a place of blood. It's a place of killing. People would come with their offerings and they would be killed and sacrificed at the altar.
- I say that because we hear the word "altar" and think, "How nice!" This was not a nice place. It is a grisly reminder that there is a deep cost to come into the place of worship.
- It's a call back to the earliest chapters of the Bible, when an innocent animal was killed to provide coverings for Adam and Eve.
- The altar was a painful reminder that death, the death of an innocent made way for the guilty.
- This altar, aside from being the first piece you would see was also the largest piece.
- It's made of acacia wood and was to be roughly 7 and a half feet long and wide and 4 and half feet high, with a bronze grate at the mid-point.
- There was no way around this very confrontive piece of tabernacle equipment.
- It is to be overlaid with bronze. Everything associated with this piece, the pans, shovels, forks, grate, transport poles etc., is to be overlaid with or made of bronze.
- Bronze, in the bible, is the metal of judgment. Sacrifices would be laid upon this altar of judgment, which would be the basis for the people of God to convene together.
- You will notice again that Moses was to instruct them to make it just as He had seen it. God had disclosed to Moses a vision of just what He wanted and they were to conform.
- Why is this? Is God being a micromanager? Not at all. God is assuring that whatever is made in the worship center, the Tabernacle, speaks purposely and prophetically of Christ and and His work.
- Every piece, in one way or another, speaks of Jesus, so God wants it just so.
• Exodus 27:9-11 : "You shall also make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side there shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, one hundred cubits long for one side. And its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets shall be bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. Likewise along the length of the north side there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver." : The court was enclosed, separate from the Tabernacle proper, but an area about twice as large.
- The hangings would be curtains that were made of linen.
- The court of the tabernacle on the south and the north would be identical, coming in at 150ft.
- Pillars would be bronze, the hooks would be silver. These are the metals of judgment and redemption! Twenty bronze pillars and sockets with their silver hooks.
• Exodus 27:12-15 : "And along the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. The hangings on one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets. And on the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three sockets." : The length of the curtains was to fully cover the tabernacle campus. Their length was 150ft and the width would have been 75ft, with pillars every 22 and a half ft.
- The curtains would obstruct the view of the outside world to what was happening on the inside. It's interesting but God is not really open for casual business.
- He wants those on the inside to come in and relate to Him. He is not trying to attract visitors or bring in the one's who are casually looking on.
- Worship is not a spectacle for someone to observe. Worship is a costly commitment that requires entry into a covenant!
• Exodus 27:16-19 : "For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets. All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze. The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen, and its sockets of bronze. All the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service, all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze." : This final section deals with the entrance of the Tabernacle. This, God calls "the gate."
- It is the third such screen in the Tabernacle proper. The first is the veil, which separates the Holy Of Holies and the Holy Place.
- The second is the screen that was made for the Holy Place entrance.
- Now, we have the gate at the front of the Tabernacle. Each of the three were to be made of linen and each were to be woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread.
- Blue is the color of royalty. Purple and scarlet are beautiful colors, which complement the blue, but are likely much more significant.
- For example, the word "scarlet" in the original language comes from the word for "worm." They extracted the color from a female worm's body.
˚ "When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted." Henry Morris[i]
- What a beautiful picture of Jesus! The purposeful attachment of the worm to the tree is nature's call back to Jesus and what He did for His children.
- Turn quickly over to Psalm 22. Listen to these amazing words:
• Psalm 22:4-6 : "Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people."
- Let's go a little further, back to a passage that we just studied on a recent Sunday. Matthew 27:28 tells us that the Roman soldiers put a "scarlet robe upon Him."
- But wait a minute! What about the color purple? Where do we see that in scripture associated with Christ? Turn over to Mark 15.
• Mark 15:16-18 : " Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'"
- Wait now? Is this a contradiction? Not at all. Jesus wore both, a scarlet robe and then a purple robe, a sequence that can be deduced from the different accounts.
- These colors then, speaks loudly of the Lord Jesus! Now, let's talk the details.
- The entrance screen was to be 30ft long and hung on 4 bronze pillars with silver sockets.
- I'm impressed that there is one entrance point into the tabernacle structure. There are not several entrances and exits.
- I can't help but think of the Lord Jesus, who is the only way in! He is the one way into God's presence. He is the door to the sheepfold. He is the way.
- In our relativistic world, there is a resentment that there are not more doors and equally valid entrances. God designs only one and His name is Jesus Christ!
• Exodus 27:20,21 : "And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually. In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening until morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever to their generations on behalf of the children of Israel." : The light from the lampstand was to be burned with pure oil pressed from olives. This was to be lit continually as the tabernacle stood.
- It's notable to consider that God speaks about the process by which the people would come to receive the oil. He does not do that with the colors of the veil, but does speak of it with the oil.
- We've discussed before that tremendous pressure is brought to bear upon the olives and that in Israel, there were large stones that would be used to extract oil from olives.
- A famous place for this was the Garden of Gethsemane, which had a large stone which had carved tributaries that allowed the oil to flow out into a waiting jar.
- When the pressure was put upon the olives from another heavy stone, the oil was gathered.
- It's fascinating that God would give this detail to Moses here, as Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane faced the greatest pressure that any man could ever have faced.
- As a result, what was squeezed out of Him gave forth the fuel that allows Him to shine forever more and allows us to shine as well. Let's see our part in this.
- Notice that the light would be lit and then it would be the Priest's job to keep it lit. They were to trim the wick, add the oil, maintain the flame.
- It was to happen from evening until morning, consistently burning before the Lord forever.
- One cannot help but see the corrolation between the lighting of the Menorah and the life of the believer.
- In the New Testament, Christians are called a Kingdom of Priests. The Holy Spirit is often symbolized with oil. The light that comes from our lives is reflective of the Light of the World Jesus!
- As we look at these verses, we are to understand that God has lit a fire in our hearts. Now, it's our priority to keep that light burning clear and clean!
- Paul instructs the believers in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the spirit. The original speaks of continuous action, ie. constantly being filled always!
- That is what the Lord speaks to His people. Is He burning brightly in your life? Are there things that need to be trimmed away so that the flame burns more cleanly?
- It's interesting that God brings this up here, at the end of this section. Why did He not bring this up when He revealed the plans for the Lampstand? Why insert the thought here?
- Consider it this way for a moment: We are at the outer court of the Tabernacle. In the next chapter, God will begin to talk about the Priest's and the clothing that they would wear.
- In essence, we are leaving the topic, for now, but before we leave the place of worship, understand that the END of worship is to live a life that is reminiscent of Him!
- When pressure was brought to bear upon the Lord, it was at that moment that He was most dependant upon the Holy Spirit's power.
- When the pressure of life comes down upon us, we also are the most dependant upon the Spirit and are thus, needing His fresh filling in a constant way if we are to shine!
Conclusion
- As we close tonight, I'd like to remind us of a few thoughts regarding what we have seen tonight. First, worship is all about pleasing God. We exist to please Him.
- This sanctuary was completely for Him, initiated by Him, invented for Him and inspired by Jesus and the work that He would accomplish.
- Second, worship is costly. From the materials that were necessary to construct this tabernacle, to the sacrifices that one would bring for the altar.
- Bringing worship to God cost the people something and we cannot think that ours will not in some way reflect value.
- Finally, worship is enduring. It's not a one time act or activity. It's a continual call to purity our hearts and surrender to His Holy Spirit's power and direction in our lives.
- We are to keep that fire burning as a worship to Him.
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