The Goings of God (4)

Studies on the book of Exodus.

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THE ARRIVAL AT THE PLACE OF HOLINESS

The second part of our study, beginning at chapter 19, shows us that the second thing which accompanies salvation is Fellowship with a Holy God . The pilgrimage of God's people has brought them now to the place of holiness. It is important for the redeemed to learn this double lesson of holiness and of fellowship. May I ask you therefore to consider two brief series of references which throw light on these two matters?

The first series begins with Moses' experience of the Angel of the Lord who "appeared unto him in a flame of fire", a fire which was associated with the divine holiness (3:5). This was the beginning. Then later on we are told that "the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire" (13:21). The fire had grown from the comparatively small flame of the bush to a great towering column of fire that walked before the people of God. Now we are considering their arrival at the Mount of God at Sinai which was "altogether smoking because the Lord descended upon it in fire" (19:18). The first had grown to such an extent that it was now a whole mountain, blazing up into the heights of heaven. This sequence stresses how the concept of the holiness of God is enforced upon us by the Book of Exodus. At Sinai the Israelites were brought into the place of holiness.

Then the second series which deals with companionship. Firstly, God said to Moses: "But I will be with you". This was the presence of God with a single individual. We move on to hear God saying: "I will take you to me for a people, and I will be your God" (6:7) -- the presence of God with a whole people. The climax of this experience is described in this chapter 19: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself" (v.4) -- the whole people introduced into the presence of God. Finally we read: "And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God" (v.17).

There is an air of climax about chapter 19, and this in a double sense. We have the climax of the revelation of holiness, the fearsome holiness of God, and the climax of the purpose of redemption, which is companionship or fellowship with God -- "I will bring you to myself". So this pilgrim people are now found in the place of holiness and faced with the responsibility of walking with a holy God. Such a walk must needs be one of obedience; it must involve a life conformed to His life. Consequently the voice which speaks to them at Sinai proves to be the voice of the law.

"God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This is the voice of law, but it proceeds from the God of Grace, the One who brought you out of the [30/31] house of bondage. "I am your Redeemer. That is why I speak to you like this. You are My redeemed people. That is why I speak to you like this." In the Old Testament the law is not a ladder for the unsaved to try to climb up to God: it is a pattern of life for the redeemed whereby they may live so as to please their Redeemer. He is quite insistent upon this, for we are not only given His law in principle, in the ten commandments, but His message runs on right to the end of chapter 23, as He breaks up the law small for the details of daily life. It is because the Lord wants a people of detailed obedience that He declares His law.

This brings us to the end of our present section in a brief consideration of chapter 24. Here the Lord applied what He had first declared. We begin with verse 4: "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel". There we see in symbol the situation which had been brought about by redemption. The Lord as represented by an altar. The flame on that altar was His fiery holiness and the offering on the altar was the way of reconciliation. Round that altar were the twelve tribes of the redeemed. The redeemed were in the presence of their Redeemer. "And Moses sent young men of the children of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings" (v.5). Why was there no reference to the sin offering? Because it had already been offered in Egypt at the Passover. The offering for sin had already been made, so now burnt offerings and peace offerings were made in order to complete the sacrificial ordinances of fellowship. The sin offering for atonement, the peace offering for fellowship and the burnt offering for consecration together provided for a totality of shed blood which Moses described as "the blood of the covenant" (v.8). The efficacy of that blood is portrayed in two ways:

i. Godward

"Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar" (v.6). As ever, the first movement and the primary efficacy of the blood is Godward. God needs the blood for propitiation. It is first offered to Him and by means of it He remains satisfied with His redeemed people. This is always the case, the blood is first of all for the righteous satisfaction of God.

ii. Manward

After this we read what Moses did with the rest of the blood. "Moses took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people" (v.7). It is important to notice that first they pledged themselves to obey, and then they came under the blood. It was blood which brought the people to God and now blood is needed to maintain them in the context of an obedient life. Even though they go forward pledged to obey and yet certain to fail, the blood will always be available. The blood has been sprinkled upon them and it will accompany them in the regular round of sacrifices. They can move forward in their walk of daily effort in their task of obeying their Redeemer-God, knowing that the precious blood avails to keep them right with God. If there are offences and lapses from obedience, then the blood is God's provision to provide forgiveness and to maintain fellowship. In this, Old and New Testament speak with one voice for, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ goes on cleansing us ...". In the pilgrim pathway of obedience, precious blood caters for lapses. The Word of God goes on to say: "My little children, I write unto you that you sin not. But if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:1). Blood goes on catering for an obedient people if they have lapses in the pathway of fellowship with the holy God. So the voice of holiness says: "Obey!" And the holy Redeemer looks lovingly upon us as we consecrate ourselves to Him and says: "Bless you. I dearly love you. I have made full provision for all possible failures".

4. THE INDWELLING GOD (25:1 - 40:38)

We now come to the climax of the book of Exodus, the matter of Fellowship with the Indwelling God. The Redeemer had brought His people by a direct road to Mount Sinai because He wished to give them direction and guidance concerning their way of life. God would have His people so live as to show His image, and it is the law which is the written image of God. This being so, when the redeemed pattern themselves according to His law, they live in His likeness, having fellowship with the holy God. We have already seen that fellowship with this Holy God is always and ever fellowship beneath the blood.

It is impossible here to deal in detail with this long and somewhat complex passage of Scripture so that we begin by first running through the chapters to get a glimpse of what they contain:

Chapter 25. At the opening of this chapter we [43/44] have the command: "Take for me an offering". The purpose of this offering is the building of what we call The Tabernacle. The divine motive is stated: "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them" (v.8). God wants this sanctuary because He wishes to be the Indwelling God, the God who lives in the midst of His people. Then verse 9 lays down a requirement which we will find over and over again in these chapters, namely that everything must be done as God directs. Nothing is to be governed by the whim of man nor even for his helpfulness, but only by the will of God. Having thus expressed His wish, God goes on next to speak of the furnishings of this dwelling place. This is God's order, though it would not be man's. We would start by speaking of the house and then of the furnishings, but God starts with the furnishings, "an ark" (v.10), "a table" (v.23) and "a lampstand" (v.31). Please take particular note of this priority given to the furnishings and that only later are we given a description of the tent (26:1). The furnishings are not there to decorate the house, but the tent is there to house the furnishings.

Chapter 26. Here we have the Tabernacle itself with a description of the curtains (v.7), the boards (v.15), the veil in front of the holiest of all (v.31) and finally the veil hung at the entrance which is called the screen of the door" (v.36).

Chapter 27. As we move on we notice that the direction is always outwards. We pass from the ark and the tent to the altar (v.1) and then to the courtyard (v.9). Following this we find a description of the ministers of this dwelling place or tabernacle. The order of things here is rather interesting: we have "oil for the light" (v.20) with a command that this light is to burn throughout their generations (v.21).

Chapters 28 and 29. These two chapters are devoted to the functionaries, first how the priests are to wear the holy garments and secondly how they are to be inducted into their sacred office. At the end of chapter 29 we are instructed as to the second priestly duty: "This is what thou shalt offer upon the altar" (v.38) with special attention given to "a continual burnt offering throughout your generations" (v.42). Just as the description of the priestly functions began with the maintenance of a perpetual light, so it now ends with a command to maintain a perpetual offering. I am not sure why they are placed in this order but make a suggestion that it may be because the priests have a double function. They are to let the light of God shine out to man, but they have also the function of bringing man to God. Perhaps this is why on one side they are bracketed with the shining light and on the other side with the continual offering: they shine out to man and they usher man into God. The Scripture itself gives no explanation.

We then come to the key passage. Having described the tent and its contents, the priests and their ministry, God reveals the purpose of it all: "There I will meet with the children of Israel. The tent shall be sanctified by my glory, and I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons will I sanctify to minister to me in the priests' office, and I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt in order that I might dwell among them" (vv.43-46). The Indwelling God in the midst of His people is what redemption has as its purpose.

Chapter 30. This tells how the ministers and people are to be prepared to approach God. We should notice that the movement is reversed. Up to the end of the previous chapter God is moving out to His people, but now the people are moving back to God. So we have the altar of incense (v.1) which symbolises the prayers of the people, the laver of brass (v.18), the provision for the continual cleansing of those who minister to God, the anointing oil (v.25), which makes everything acceptable to God, and how to make the incense (v.35). The key thought of this chapter is that of acceptation before God. Prayer must rise up to Him, ministers must be clean and everything must be made acceptable to Him by the anointing oil.

Chapter 31. Here we have described the workers who are to manufacture and set up the Tabernacle, being endued with the Spirit of God for this sacred function.

Chapters 32-34. Here we meet with a dreadful shock. After all that glory and the climax of God's declared purpose to live among His people, what a blow to read of The Great Rebellion! Moses delays in coming down the mountain, the people of God fall into the sin of impatience and prefer a god which they can touch and see, and Aaron takes their gold and makes for them [44/45] a golden calf. There has to be a visitation from the holy God who is rightly angered by this fearful rebellion.

Chapters 35-40. It may seem that here we are being dragged all over the same ground once more. May I say, though, that it is important to watch out when the Bible seems to be boring, for it is never boring by accident. If it says the same thing all over again it says it for a purpose, as we shall see. So we are given again the details of the Tabernacle. This one thing we can learn, and that is God's requirement that everything should be exactly as He first ordered. John Calvin's words that "worship must be conformable to the will of God as its unerring standard" could be written as a motto over these chapters. The key thought in worship is not what man finds helpful, nor what this group or that has found traditional, but what God has commanded. Worship must conform to the will of God.

We now come to the climax of the whole matter: "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (v.34). We first met the glory of the Lord in a tiny, isolated bush in the desert (3:2). Then we met the glory of the Lord when we came to Mount Sinai and saw a whole mountain blazing up into the heart of heaven, but it was a glory that was both majestic and remote, for the people were not allowed to climb that mountain. Here, however, is the climax; here is the central lesson which God would have us learn: the glory of the Living God, superlatively expressed, as He comes to live in the midst of His people. Not remote, as in the bush; not majestic and far off, as in the mountain; but near at hand, dwelling in the midst of His redeemed people. Here, then, is the passage laid out before us. Now we must retrace our steps and seek to find what God may teach us out of this portion of His Word.

1. The Tabernacle was designed by God to perpetuate the covenant relationship between Himself and His people

I want to try to make clear to you the perpetuity of the covenant by saying three separate things, namely that the Tabernacle perpetuates, intensifies and completes Mount Sinai.

i. The Tabernacle perpetuates Mount Sinai

As we saw, Mount Sinai is not to be identified exclusively with what John Newton calls "The law's loud thunder". At Mount Sinai God did speak His law for the guidance and direction of His redeemed people, but there was more than that. Mount Sinai was the fulfilment of half the covenant promise: "I will take you to me for a people, and I will be your God" (Exodus 6:7). As we saw at the end of the last study, this is such a permanent relationship that it was set up in stone: "Moses built an altar and put twelve pillars round it" (24:4). That permanent relationship was sealed by the blood of the covenant. The blood was dashed upon the altar, signifying the fact that the blood of the lamb takes away the wrath of God; and the blood was sprinkled upon the consecrated people, signifying the fact that as they walk the life of obedience they are sheltered by the blood of the lamb. Now, as they leave Mount Sinai, the Tabernacle perpetuates that relationship. At Sinai they saw the appearance of the glory of the Lord like a devouring fire, and now as they move forward, the cloud covers the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord fills the Tabernacle. The glory of the Lord is now in their midst. That relationship goes on.

ii. The Tabernacle intensifies Mount Sinai

Moses was able to enter into the glory of the cloud on the mount (24:18), but when the glory filled the Tabernacle "Moses was not able to enter" (40:35). It seems that the glory of God dwelling in the Tabernacle is an intenser glory, a fuller presence of God, than upon the mountain-top. Thus God says to us that what He showed the people on the mountain-top is not a greater experience which recedes into the past; the people of God are not called upon and never will be called upon to live in the fading afterglow of a great experience. They are called to walk on with God into a greater experience, which He enables as He comes to live and dwell with them.

Perhaps this calls for just one peep into the book of Leviticus. Exodus finishes with Moses not able to enter into the Tabernacle. But that is not what God desires. His dissatisfaction with this state of affairs is shown if we ignore the division of the books and read on: "And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When [45/46] any man of you offereth an oblation unto the Lord ..." (Leviticus 1:1-2). Now the word "oblation" means "to come near". When anyone of the children of Israel wishes to bring near that which is to be brought near, the holy God makes it possible for him to come near into the presence of His glory. So if we were to follow on into the book of Leviticus we would find that it speaks to us of fellowship with the Welcoming God. Through the blood of the covenant God now welcomes His people into His presence. So the Tabernacle intensifies Mount Sinai.

iii. The Tabernacle completes Mount Sinai

There at Sinai one half of the covenant promise was: "I will take you to Me for a people" but the other half was: "I will be to you a God". This is a two-way arrangement, the people being brought to God and His coming to them in this capacity. It is the Tabernacle, therefore, that brings the covenant scheme to its climax, going beyond even the glory that was experienced at the mountain, going beyond even that which was set up in the stone pillars, to actualise that which was there prefigured -- God coming to dwell in the midst of His redeemed, to prove Himself to be their God. The Tabernacle is the climax: "They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt in order that I might dwell among them". Since the Tabernacle is mobile, this relationship goes on with a pilgrim people. Mount Sinai, with its altar and its stone pillars, disappears over the horizon, but the Tabernacle goes on. There is a Pilgrim God for a pilgrim people.

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