Travelling with God
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I wonder if you ever struggle to believe that God could forgive your sin. Perhaps you know it in your head more than you feel it in your heart. That guilt you feel is hard to shift. Perhaps some of the people we look to share the gospel with at the Big Invite will have this question: how can God accept me? How can I have a fresh start with him after the mess I've made. Perhaps if you're not a follower of Jesus yourself tonight that might even be your question or your fear.
I think we're going to see tonight that God is a God of new beginnings, that he really does deal with our sin and that he really does commit to finishing his work in us by bringing us to be with him forever. That's the big idea tonight, that God is a God of new beginnings.
Well this is it, we've come to the last sermon in Exodus. It's our third year in the book and we're finally finishing. I don't know about you but I'm going to miss it. Suggestions on a yellow slip please for what book we should tackle in the evenings starting next January. But this is it, the end of the book.
God's people have been entirely in one place during this year's series, and that's at the foot of Mount Sinai in the desert. They have received God's law, they've learnt all about the Tabernacle they were to build, they've abandoned God, he's taken them back although there were casualties, they've built all the bits of the Tabernacle, and there's only one thing left to do and that's put the thing together and use it. That's what we're about to see, although as you might expect as Exodus veterans, if you've been around for a while, there's more to this chapter than meets the eye.
Please turn back to Exodus 40 on p70 and have that open for the next few minutes. I want to look this chapter under four themes: The Calendar, The Commands, The Consecration and The Cloud. And if you didn't realise that this was a sermon you surely do now… four themes all beginning with the same letter. Cliché… Anyway, that's what we're doing so let's get stuck in.
The first thing to notice is:
1) The Calendar
Read v1-2:
1Then the Lord said to Moses: 2"Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.
In verse 2 God commands Moses to set up the tabernacle, this dwelling place for God in the midst of his people, on the first day of the first month. So for them it was New Year's Day. We get a Bank Holiday and a lot of cleaning up to do from the parties the night before, but the Israelites got to set up the Tabernacle and celebrate the presence with them of the one true God.
In fact it was more than that because the first month of the year was also the month of the very first Passover, when God broke them out from slavery in Egypt. God reset the Israelites' calendar to celebrate his rescue of them. This New Year construction of the Tabernacle that would happen every year from now on was also a signpost back to their liberation.
There's a real feeling here of new beginnings, a fresh start. God is the God of restoration, of revival, of renewal, of reformation. God brings new beginnings to his people. And we know that too if we're following Jesus. Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…" That's his offer to everyone. Turn away from serving yourself and your selfish desires and turn to Jesus. Trust that he lived perfectly, died on the cross in your place, suffering the sentence that you deserve, and that he rose again to pave the way to new life for you. When we do that, God starts over with us in a new beginning.
The next theme to notice:
2) The Commands
We've covered a lot of ground pretty quickly in this series in Exodus, particularly the two large chunks of detail about the Tabernacle and all its furnishings in chapter 25-31 and 35-39. The slightly surprising thing is that in those huge blocks of text there's a lot of information about what to make and how to make it but few clues about putting it all together. It's like the last page of the instructions has been missing until now. Now God tells Moses how to bring it all together, starting with the Most Holy Place and working outwards. Look down at v2 and I'll recap these instructions for us:
V2: Set up the Tabernacle, that's the tent, the basic shell
V3: Bring in the Ark and hang the Curtain in front of it
V4: Arrange the Table and the Lampstand
V5: Place the Altar of Incense in the Holy Place and hang the Curtain over the entrance to the Tabernacle
V6: Put the Altar of Burnt offerings outside the Tabernacle
V7: Put the Bronze Basin between the Tabernacle and the Altar of Burnt Offerings
V8: Hang up the screen around the courtyard
All the furniture and equipment had a place, and now Moses finally knew for sure how to put it all together. That's good news for Moses. In the flat-packed furniture generation we know what it feels like to put something together and be missing a bolt or a screw at the end, or perhaps more disconcertingly, to have some bits left over after we think we've finished putting everything together and wondering where they should have gone. How much worse would it have been for Moses to end up with some leftover tent-pegs and a few curtains. But that doesn't happen; Moses now knows how to put it all together.
So that's exactly what he does in v16-33. Down in v16 we read this: 16Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him. In fact in the original it's more like: Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him, so he did. There's a real Northern-Irish moment here in the middle of Exodus 40, so there is. And I think it's there for emphasis: Moses really did do everything just as the Lord commanded him. In fact we can't miss it in v17-33, with every two or three verses corresponding to each of the specific commands God gave Moses in v2-8 and ending with the phrase 'as the Lord commanded him'. For example in v2 the instruction is to set up the Tabernacle. And then v17-19 go like this:
17So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. 18When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts. 19Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the Lord commanded him.
Now, we could almost get the impression that Moses is the only one doing any work in the Israelite camp. But if you've been here in recent weeks you'll know that there were many people involved in all kinds of ways, bringing resources and applying skills. Moses is credited here, not because he did all the work, but because he is the representative of the people. We're being reminded that Moses was the mediator, the go-between, between God and the people of God.
And the obedience of the mediator is strongly emphasised and really important. That should remind us of Jesus, who prayed on the night before his death for God to take away the looming prospect of the cross, but also prayed "not my will but yours be done". He became obedient to death, even death on a cross, as Paul writes.
But there's more to this set of commands and obedient responses. There's a real echo here of Genesis 1 – the creation. God said Let there be… and there was. God said Let there be… and it was so. If you like, just as the Lord commanded. That gives a real sense of the importance of what's going on here in Exodus 40. In creation, as God worked to dwell with his people, he commanded and he was obeyed. So here with the Tabernacle, as God worked to dwell with his people, he commanded and he was obeyed. So again we're prompted to think of God as a God of new beginnings and fresh starts.
Let's keep going with another theme:
3) The Consecration
Look back up to v9 and follow along as I try to summarise like before what the commands are in v9-15
V9: Anoint and consecrate the Tabernacle and all the furniture and tools used in it
V10: Anoint and consecrate the Altar of Burnt offerings and its utensils
V11: Anoint and consecrate the Basin
V12: Wash Aaron and his sons, the priests
V13: Dress Aaron and anoint and consecrate him
V14: Dress his sons, and,
V15: Anoint them
Anoint and consecrate, anoint and consecrate, anoint and consecrate. To anoint is to pour on something the anointing oil to signify that it is set apart for God in some way. To consecrate is similarly to set apart or to cleanse, with atoning sacrifices mentioned in some detail earlier in Exodus. Everything has to be purified and set apart for the service of God.
We were going too fast to think about it in detail, but back in chapter 29 God's instructions were for the consecration of the priests to take seven days. So the picture we get is that on New Year's Day the Israelites were to set up the Tabernacle, and over the course of seven days the priests would be consecrated, resulting – if we take a sneak peak to the last verses of the chapter – in the presence of God settling on the Tabernacle dwelling place. Just as the six days of creation in Genesis 1 were followed by the Sabbath rest of God, so the creation of the Tabernacle led to the rest of God in the midst of his people.
This is massive. God didn't dwell with Moses before this point. He didn't dwell with Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. Abraham only heard from God a handful of times in his life. God didn't dwell with Noah or Abel or even Adam, after the Fall. What's happening here as God dwells with his people has not happened since before the Fall, in the garden of Eden, before sin entered the world. So again we're prompted to think of God as a God of new beginnings and fresh starts.
So we come to the last theme:
4) The Cloud
Let's read from v33:
33Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.36In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38So 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.
God gives his seal of approval on the Tabernacle and he fills it with his presence. The presence of God, which so far at Sinai has mostly been in fiery, thunderous cloud and smoke on top of the mountain, now settles in the midst of the people, the same people who just a few chapters back were repeatedly warned not to approach the holy God.
And these last verses of the book are perhaps the least likely verses in the whole of Exodus. We're finishing the book so let's take a trip down memory lane for a minute and I'll explain why I think these verses are so unlikely.
- When Pharaoh turned up the heat on the Israelites slaves after Moses demanded they be released, the Israelites quickly got cold feet about the whole thing and they cursed Moses.
- When the angel of the Lord passed though Egypt killing the firstborn sons, only the blood of a lamb or goat painted on the doorframes stopped him from devastating the Israelite homes as well, because all people are guilty before him.
- When Pharaoh finally released the people and they left, he changed his mind, sending a fleet of chariots to bring them back, only for those chariots and their drivers and horses to drown in the Red Sea, after that same body of water had stepped aside for the Israelites at the command of God.
- When the people had finished their song of praise to God on the shores of the Red Sea and set off together, almost no time passed at all before they were grumbling against God because of their hunger and thirst.
- After they had stood at Mount Sinai and heard the terrifying voice of God command them to have no other gods beside him, they grew impatient waiting for Moses to return so they had Aaron, the man who was to be the High Priest, make an idol out of gold in the shape a calf, and he said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
- Seeing all this, God declared that he would wipe them out and start again with Moses, but he relented after Moses prayed desperately for his mercy.
So much stood in the way of Exodus 40 ever coming to pass – whether it was Pharaoh's challenge against God or the Israelites' rebellion against God – threat after threat stood against this moment when God's presence settled with his people at this special tent, the tabernacle.
Yet here they are and here is God, dwelling with them at last. The great project of the exodus – God making a people for himself and dwelling with them – that project is now complete. This is a new beginning, a fresh start, for the people of God.
But even as this book ends on such a high point, there's an unresolved question, isn't there? What about the people's sin? The continual sacrifice of animals doesn't really cut it as justice for their rebellion. Remember all that grumbling, the idol-worship at the foot of the mountain, the direct, intentional rejection of God. God was ready to wipe them out and start again. Even when he relented it wasn't entirely clear whether God would go with them when the time came to leave Sinai. The Tabernacle is all well and good, but it doesn't really deal with sin does it?
For the answer to that we need to look to Jesus. It's been described already in this series how the tabernacle is a huge signpost to Jesus. John 1 says he 'tabernacled among us'. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He's the true priest, the true mediator, the true sacrifice, the bread of life, the light of the world, and so on and so on, all these pointers to Jesus from the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
But in these last verses we get another clue, and that's the cloud. Where does the cloud fit in the life of Jesus? I think the most obvious place is his Transfiguration. Let me read from Luke 9:
Jesus took Peter, John and James up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. [Echoes of Moses' face after he had been in the presence of God… yep, here he is:] Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem. [Peter babbled something about pitching shelters and getting a brew on (I'm paraphrasing now) and, v34,] While [Peter] was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.
The disciples witness this very phenomenon from Exodus 40, the cloud of God's presence, descending not on a tent or a temple, but on Jesus. He's the one that all of this points to, and he's the one who deals with the unresolved problem of sin. We get that in one of the verses from our second reading. It goes like this:
God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
God's wrath, his right and settled anger against all of that grumbling and all of that rebellion was stored up and poured out on Jesus on the cross. That's how God can be a God of new beginnings. Jesus is the answer to the problem of sin.
But he's more than that, isn't he. He's more than just the ultimate sacrifice. This book of Exodus finishes by looking forward. It's so obvious it might as well say "To be continued…" at the end. The people of Israel are about to set off on a journey as God guides them to the land he has promised them, a place where they can be settled and safe and where they can rest in his presence. The project of Exodus is God's presence with his people but that's not the end of the story. God was moving his people onwards to a destination. Not just peace with God now but a place with God to come.
And that's how it is for us as well. We're also heading to a destination, with God moving us on towards it. The Tabernacle points back to creation and forward to Jesus but it also points ultimately to heaven. That's our destination if we're trusting in Jesus. We're pilgrims, to use an old word. God is moving us, working in us, preparing us to arrive in his presence forever. And he's also with us on the journey. As Jesus returned to heaven he said to his disciples, "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
How does that work? Incredibly, the same spirit who hovered over creation, the same spirit who descended in this cloud, the same spirit who descended on Jesus now lives in us, directly in us, no tents, no tabernacles, no temples; just us. And he's guiding us to our destination, which is his presence forever.