Exodus

Beware of False Worship (Sermon Notes)

/ davidsschrock

Exodus 32 is a tremendous vision of all that God hates about false worship.  If we pay careful attention, the problem is not absence of worship, but absence of divine sanction. In other words, the problem is not rejection of religion or indifference to worship. The problem is that worship derives its origin from some place other than God himself. This is not too different from the church today.

In an age of creative ventures in worship, the Golden Calf incident is worth our attention, because it provides a powerful counter-example to false forms of Christian worship. And what is most shocking and indicting is the fact that in Exodus 32 we find that false worship looks a lot like true worship, and that only in the light of divine revelation, can we tell the difference.

False Worship Looks A Lot Like True Worship

False religion is so dangerous because of how closely it apes true religion.  It doesn’t come with a surgeon generals warning on it.  In fact, if you use Christianbook.com as a resource for getting “good, Christian resources,” beware.  There is no warning for the likes of Osteen, Boyd, Eldredge, Meyer, or Jakes.  Today, too many Christian booksellers make a killing selling false doctrine.

In Exodus 32, we see a number of ways that ancient Israel apes true religion, and how Satan deceives God’s son.

First, while the need for leadership is real, the request is wrong.  Moses has been gone for weeks, and Israel feels its need. So they come to Aaron earnestly; unfortunately, their worry is premature.  The pillar of cloud is still on Mount Sinai.  There is no evidence that it has departed.  They were told that when Moses ascended, he would return and lead Israel to dwell with YHWH.  But like in the garden, Satan plays on the emotions of Israel, and they fall for his temptation.

Second, the worship that Israel offers looks sacrificial.  Here Aaron, failing to guard Israel, like Adam failed to guard his wife, calls for gold to fashion an idol.  And the people give.  They give liberally! It is a major act of spirituality–false spirituality.  Sadly, they miss God’s mark.  Part of God’s plan is for Israel to gather gold, silver, fabrics, etc (Exod 25, 35), thus, what Aaron calls for seems very natural. Sadly, his construction will distance Israel from God, it will not bring them near.  Access to God requires God’s revelation.

We learn something very important here: Sacrifice does not equal spirituality.  Spirituality calls for sacrifice. David says of Araunah’s threshing floor in 1 Sam 2:24, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing”  True spirituality will cost you  (cf. Luke 14:25-33), but just because you offer costly service, does not mean your spirituality is pleasing to God.

Third, the materials Israel offers for worship are essentially the same. The people of God build an altar, offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, and feast with the Lord (v. 5-6).  Yet, while in name these offerings and elements of worship are the same, they are different because they are invented by men and not God.  Aaron is not responding to God’s revelation, he is building the altar and offering the sacrifices according to all that he had seen in Egypt.

At this point in the narrative, Moses alone had God’s instructions.  He is still on the Mountain.  Israel does not yet have Exodus 25-31.  We do.  They don’t.  Worse: Because of the sexual promiscuity often associated with temple worship in the ancient world, the “playing” in Exodus 32:6 is likely to have a sexually perverse element.  Overall, the offering is an abomination, because it fails to do what God’s word says; it offers worship according to the vain imagination of fallen men.

Here is the application, via negative example, for us: It is natural and easy for the worship of God’s people to reflect more of the culture than of the court of heaven.  False worship is indeed what will happen whenever God’s word is minimized.  Unless we employ a regulative principle that allows Scripture to define and delimit our worship, we run the risk of offending God with the very thing with which we intend to please him.

Worship Without the Word Invokes God’s Wrath

The reaction of God is evident to all.  YHWH was incensed.  Verse 7 describes the distance that now existed between God and Israel.  He calls Israel “Moses’ people,” and he tells Moses that he brought them up from Egypt.  YHWH wants to have nothing to do with Israel.  In verse 8, he condemns them legally for breaking the part of the law that they had.  Remember, more than once, Israel swore that they would do all the words the Lord had spoken (Exod 25:3).  They knew that failure to obey meant death.  And so, God was fully within his rights, to say in 32:10, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them & I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you’

The people of God worshiped YHWH (v. 5), but not according to the way YHWH designed.  Thus, they invoked his wrath.  How many churches today do the same?  As they creatively invite the presence of the Spirit through smells, bells, dramas, and personal interviews, they may actually distance themselves from the Christ they name.  For churches and their leaders, it is worth asking: What biblical sanction is there for such activity in corporate worship?  Failure to think through these things, invites God not to write his name on our churches, but rather the word “Ichabod.”

May God protect us from false worship, and may we pursue true worship as we look to the Word of God and worship according to all that he has revealed and prescribed in his sufficient revelation.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Sermon Notes: Exodus 34:6-7 In Biblical-Theological Context

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

The Context of Exodus 32-34

Exodus 32-34 are at the center of the tabernacle section (Exodus 25-40).  They function as a break between the instructions (25-31) and the construction (35-40). But the break is not just literary, it’s relational.

After all that God has done for Israel—remembering them in Egypt, redeeming them from slavery, making his covenant with them—Israel returns the favor by committing spiritual adultery.  In Exodus 32, God’s people make a graven image, and bow before it.  This invokes God’s wrath, but it also sets the stage to display YHWH’s mercy and grace.

Exodus 34:6-7 is the capstone of this passage, and in these two electric verses, we find the center of Old Testament Theology in God’s revelation to Moses (see Jim Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment for a full development of this idea).  These verses are programmatic for the rest of the Bible and they read,

The LORD passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

To know our God, it is vital to understand these passages in context and content. To better acquaint ourselves with this passage, notice three ways that God’s revelation on Sinai functions much like the cross in the New Testament.

1. Like the cross of Christ, these chapters show God’s mercy and his justice. Like a perfect kaleidoscope, they radiate the colors of God’s severity and kindness (cf. Rom 11:22).  In the New Testament, wrath and mercy meet at the cross; in the Old Testament they meet here.

2. Like the cross of Christ, the role of Moses is that of God-given Mediator.  In other words, he stands between God’s holy wrath and Israel’s rebellious sin.  In this way, as he pleads for mercy, he foreshadows Christ.  But lets not make the mistake that Moses or Christ change God’s mind; in both cases, the God who metes out perfect justice, also sends his a mediator to plead for pardon.  In this, there is the beautiful mystery that God who seeks to destroy Israel, is first the God works to save them.  He listens to Moses’ prayer, because he sent Moses to pray.

3. Like the cross of Christ, this episode shapes the rest of the OT (and NT). Exodus 34:6-7 is quoted throughout the rest of the Bible, and gives shape to all that follows.

This verse is picked up in places like Num 14:18. When Israel rebels against Moses, Moses quotes Exodus 34:6-7 in full as he pleads for Israel’s pardon. In the Psalms, it is often cited to remind Israel of God’s gracious character (cf. 86:15; 103:7).  But in the prophets, Nahum stresses God’s wrath: “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” (1:2-3). Even Jonah quotes the verse, saying it was this reason that he did not go to Nineveh, because the reluctant prophet knew God would forgive them if they repented.

Exodus 34:6-7 is so programmatic because of the way it expresses God’s relationship with the world.  YHWH is unchanging (Mal 3:6), yet people are not.  Thus, God has made a world in covenant with him.  Which means: Those who keep covenant will receive grace, mercy, and forgiveness (thru atonement).  However, for those who reject or ignore him, he loathes. His anger burns red-hot. His patience is slow, but not infinite.

Finally, Exodus 34:6-7 is fulfilled in Christ himself. In John 1:14, the beloved disciple introduces Christ saying, “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.”  The connection with Exodus 34:6-7 is in the last phrase.  The God who is abounding in steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness (emeth) is fully revealed in Christ who is full of grace (charis) and truth (aletheia).

This is our God.  Though, Scripture reveals him progressively over time, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  The Old Testament God and the New Testament God are not juxtaposed, rather, as I recently heard D. A. Carson say, the New Testament vision of God is simply more clear and precise–this is true with God’s love and his justice.

May we this week, worship the God of Sinai and Calvary, and learn to know him in his faithfulness to forgiveness and judge.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Sweet-Smelling Aroma of Prayer (OT)

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

TEST CASE # 2 :: The Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1-10; 34-38)

For the last two days, we have looked at Exodus 29 and the consecration of the priesthood, today we will move to a section of the tabernacle furniture that is a little more obscure: The Altar of Incense.  How should we understand this instrument in the law, in the prophets, in relationship to Christ, in the way it points to the gospel, and in our own lives?  To answer such a question we must begin in the OT and work our way to the NT.

Again, following the five-fold model (Law, Prophets 1 &2, Christ, Gospel, Christian Application) presented here, our aim today is to better understand the “good news” of the altar of incense and how the Old Testament prepares us for Christ’s fulfillment of this golden altar.

1. God commands Moses to build an altar of incense.  In brief, notice three things in verses 1-10—(1) the construction (v. 1-5); (2) the location (v. 6); (3) the function (v. 7-10).

Construction. Like everything else inside the holy place, the altar of incense was made of acacia wood, and covered with gold (v. 1, 3).  It was to be about 18 inches across and 18 inches in depth, and it stood 3 feet tall (v. 2).  Like the altar in the courtyard, it had horns on all four-sides.  And like everything else in the holy place, it was made to be portable.  Thus, it had rings of gold so that poles could be used to carry it.  These two were made of acacia wood and covered in gold (v. 5).

Location.  Also important is the location.  In verse 6, Moses records, “And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is avoe the testimony, where I will meet with you.”  The location is important because it was the last piece of furniture the priest would pass before entering behind the veil; likewise, when the priests offered incense they were coming near to God.  Leviticus 16:18 describes the location in these terms: “Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it.”

So on the Day of Atonement, the priest applied the blood to the altar of incense after applying blood the mercy seat, and significantly the altar of incense sat in front of the veil.

Function.  Verses 7-10 explain the function of the altar. Verse 7 says Aaron would burn incense on it.  Morning and evening, fresh incense would rise for this little golden altar.

What was this incense?  Verses 34-38 supply the answer:

The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.”

 Clearly, there was God-ordained way to make the incense for the altar.  We cannot reproduce it because we do not quite know what the substance are, or what the proportion were.  But it was clear “You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it” (v. 9).  Moreover, it was only to be used for incense and not a burnt offering, a grain offering, or a drink offering (v. 9b).  And finally, like all the other elements of the tabernacle, it needed to be cleansed by the blood of the yearly sin offering (v. 10).

What does it symbolize?  Location hints at its purpose, as does the imagery of the smoke rising to God.  In fact, while some scholars have said that the incense served the purpose of covering the odor of the priests and their work; it is better to see that the smoke did not simply remain in the Holy Place.  It went behind the veil.  While Israel’s high priest could not enter behind the veil, but once a year.  The incense was constantly wafting into the presence of God.

And it is no wonder that altar of incense became synonymous with prayer in Old Testament and the New Testament.

Psalm 141:1-2 makes this clear: “A Psalm of David. O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

Luke 1:8-11 is also helpful.  While this passage is in the New Testament, it must be remembered that it is still an Old Covenant age: Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

So clearly, there is a connection between the altar of incense and prayer.  But there is also a connection between this altar and the bronze altar that stands outside the holy place.  Philip Ryken helps us relate the two:

[B]y calling it an altar, God was making a connection between what happened on the great bronze altar out in the courtyard and what happened on the little golden altar inside the tabernacle.  Both altars were square, and both had horns rising up on their corners.  So there was something similar about their shape.  Also, they were both used at the same time of day.  Remember that the priests offered incense at dawn and at dusk.  Something else important was happening at the same time, both morning and evening: Priests were out in the courtyard offering a sacrificial lamb.  These daily religious rituals were synchronized.  Thus there was a close connection between the two altars, in both their design and their function… The connection between the two altars served as a daily reminder that the life of prayer depends on having a sacrifice for sin.  What secures a place for us before the throne of God’s grace is the atoning blood that was shed for our sins.  This is why God hears our prayers (Exodus:Saved for God’s Glory, 927).

Now for the question: How did Israel do at keeping this law?

2A. Nadab and Abihu, sons mentioned in Exodus, burn unauthorized fire in Leviticus 10, and are struck dead because of their willful—and perhaps drunken—disobedience.

Leviticus 10:1-3. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'” And Aaron held his peace.

2B. Uzziah, King of Judah, overcome with pride attempts to offer incense on the altar without prayer and without a priest.  The result?

2 Chron 26:16-21. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.

In addition to these historical (and prophetic) accounts, if you look at Ezekiel 8, you will find the prophet touring the temple and seeing false worship in all corridors, thus contaminating any sort of prayer life or altar of incense. The question is: Are there any hopeful prophesies for a better altar of incense?

3. Malachi, in the midst of God’s judgment, looks to a day when incense will rise before God from all over the earth—perhaps indicating a day when the temple is larger than a mountain in Jerusalem.

Malachi 1:11. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incese will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.  For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

What about in the New Testament?  Do we have evidence that Christ fulfills this? We do, and we will check it out tomorrow.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss


Sermon Notes: Christ’s Consecration is Our Confidence (OT)

/ davidsschrock

TEST CASE # 1 :: Exodus 29: Consecration of the Priests

Following the five-fold model (Law, Prophets 1 &2, Christ, Gospel, Christian Application) presented in the last few days, I will today try to give a “test case” for getting from the consecration of the high priest in Exodus 29 to Christ to Christians today.

1. Exodus 29 gives explicit laws for consecrating the priest. 

Exodus 29 is an exposition of Exodus 28:41, “And your shall put them”—that is the priestly garments— “on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.”  The point of the chapter is to explain how the high priest might be received into the presence of the Lord.  And it is an incredible process. To begin with, verses 4-9 give a point by point process for cleansing the priest.

Verses 4-9: Five Steps for Consecration

Verse 4. The priests are washed.  In a hot, dusty desert, these men needed a bath. This would not be sufficient, but it was a necessary beginning.

Verse 5. The priest is clothed.  All the garments made for “dignity and honor,” or “beauty and glory” were put on the priest.

Verse 6. The priest is crowned. The most significant element of the apparel was the turban.  It was put on last, and it essentially crowned the priest (Zech 6).

Verse 7. The priest is anointed.  With the anointing oil, the priest is ordained, as God’s chosen vessel to represent the people before him.  This anointing is defined with greater detail in Hebrews 5, where it says that the priest did not appoint and anoint himself.  As one commentator has said, this anointing basically stamped the priest with heavenly approval.

Verse 8-9. The priest is supported. Each of the priests are dressed and ready to serve him, in the service of the temple.

Verses 10-28: Six Atoning Sacrifices

Now everything was ready for the offerings.  In verses 10-28, Moses lists six different kinds of offerings that were involved in the priests ordination.  Most of these would be further explained in Leviticus 1-7, but let’s take a short survey here to simply mention the complexity of all the sacrifices involved.

Sin offering.  Unclean sections of the animal are taken outside the camp and burned.

Burnt Offering. First ram is completely consumed, symbolizing the priest’s total devotion

Ram of Ordination.  Only for the priests, this lamb was slaughtered and the blood applied to their ear lobes, thumbs, and big toes.  All the exposed parts of the priest are cleansed by the blood.

Wave Offering.  Taking the cooked meat and bread, the offering was waved before the Lord. Walter Kaiser describe them like this: “The waving was not from side to side but toward the altar and back, showing that the sacrifice was given to God and then received back by the priest for his use” (Exodus, 470). This food is then burned up on the altar as a Food Offering.

Peace Offerings.  Included in the consecration was the eating of the food before the Lord.  This ‘portion’ to eat represented the kind of peace the priests (and Israel) had with God through the atoning sacrifices.

Verses 29-42: Further Priestly Instructions

After the offerings came another round of detailed instructions.  Everything from how to boil the food that the priest would eat with God to directions on the daily offerings.

Verse 29-30.  God gives instructions concerning the garments, and how they are to be passed down from one generation to the next.

Verse 31-35.  The priests have instructions for boiling the meat and eating it.

Verse 35-37.  This ordination takes 7 days, again showing how weak the sacrifices were and how great was the need for cleansing.

Verse 38-42. On top of the ordination service, there is the morning and evening sacrifice, which twice a day provided atonement for the holy place.

This elaborate system, along with everything else in Exodus 25-40, was put in place to teach Israel about the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and what it takes to get into God’s presence.  In one sentence, the message was this: You need a priest who will represent you before God, and that priest needs the highest degree of cleansing.  Now the question becomes, “How did Israel do with this?”  Let’s see.

2. Malachi 2:1-9 shows how the priests failed to keep covenant with God. Reciting the covenant God had with Levi, Malachi indicts the sons of Levi for their corrupted service.

 And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.

3. Zechariah 3 promises a new priest who will be pure and devoted to God. In a book full of Messianic promises, the hope of a royal priest who will cleanse the people is especially prominent, because God’s dwelling with his people depended on the people’s purity.  Verses 6-10 read,

Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.

At this point in redemptive-history, the people of God wait for a pure priest.  God’s promise is sure, but the fulfillment is still future.  The flow of the narrative builds anticipation for the arrival of the Messiah.

Following the lead of the inter-testamental period, we will pause here too, and come back in our next post.

dss

Sermon Notes: The Priest’s Particular Work (NT)

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Moving from Old Testament to New, the particularity of the priestly office continues.  In fact, just as the high priest represents the 12 tribes whose names are engraved on his heart; Christ lays down his life for his church, the New Israel, those who are made new in Christ (cf. Gal 6:16; 1 Pet 2:5, 9).

Jesus Priesthood in John’s Gospel

For instance, in John, Jesus describes his atoning work as accomplishing salvation for those who believe (3:16), for all his sheep (10:14), for all his friends (15:13), and for all those God the Father has “given to him” —Jew or Gentile.  Consider Jesus high priestly prayer,

Since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him… I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours (John 17:2, 6-9).

As John records it, Jesus does not reveal himself or pray uniformly to all people.  He prays for those whom the father has given him.  In priestly vernacular, he mediates only for those whose names are written on his ephod and breastpiece.

Maybe you are thinking, can we really connect Exodus 28-29 with John 17? That is a legitimate question, so it is important to see that there do seem to be some linguistic and conceptual links between the two passages.  This is most evident in verses 16-19.

They [i. e. those whom God has given to Jesus] are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world… For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth

In this brief prayer, there are at least two words/ideas that were used in Exodus 28–sanctify/sanctified and consecrate.  Apparently, as Jesus anticipates his atoning death, he prays to the Father for his own.  He stakes the fact that he will consecrate himself for them, which has explicit reference to his priestly work of sacrifice, so that they might be sanctified for access into God’s holy dwelling (cf. Heb 10:19ff).  This was obviously the purpose of Exodus 25-40; and so it is with Jesus, who makes atonement not in an earthly tabernacle, but in God’s heavenly temple.  And who does he make atonement for?  According to John 17, it is those people whom the father has given.  This is not a universal group; it is God’s particular covenant people.

Jesus’s Priestly Work in John’s Apocalypse

Finally, the list of names for whom Jesus represents as priest is also given in Revelation.  For instance, in Revelation 13:8, John declares that judgment is coming upon “Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”  In other words, God in eternity past purposed whose names would be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Here, John is warning earth-dwellers of their impending demise, but by contrast, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be saved.  Clearly, it would be inappropriate to say that this passage refers to the ephod or the breastpiece.  However, the principle is analogous.  In both the Lamb’s Book of Life and on his priestly garments are the names of those for whom Christ died.  Again, the names indicate a particular representation for a particular people.

Likewise, in Revelation 17:8, John records, “And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.” Like the earlier verse in chapter 13, John is describing those whose names are left out of the book; but that has to imply that their are others–a countless multitude in Revelation 7–whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Thus in both positive (the ephod and breastpiece) and negative (the book of life) terms, God distinguishes those whom the Lamb dies for, and those whom he does not.  As God’s appointed priest and sacrifice, God sends him to earth to be slain, so that by his blood he would ransom people for God “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9-10).  In this way, God’s particular means of salvation are made known to all the earth; and the promise that the gospel will be universally effective is found in the fact that in every tribe, language, people, and nation, God has his chosen ones.  In this way, God’s offer of salvation can be offered to all people indiscriminately; and it has the promise of absolute efficacy, because of Christ’s perfect, priestly atonement and intercession (see Hebrews 9-10).

The Good News of Christ’s Priestly Work

This is the Good News!  Christ’s salvation cannot be revoked.  It cannot be overturned.  It will not fail.  While the Levitical priests were weak, and unable to cleanse human guilt, they did preserve the flesh.  Yet, they could never save the soul.

Not so with Jesus.  His priestly ministry is infinitely better.  For all whom he died, he effectively saved.  He is a glorious and beautiful priest!  He perfectly intercedes for all those whose name are on his vestments; he does not forget us.  We are close to his heart.  As John records, He has lost not one!  And all those who have trusted in him and repented of sin, can have glad-hearted confidence that their name is written across his heart.

May we proclaim that word all over the earth, until the priestly-king returns to reign on the earth!

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Priest’s Particular Work (OT)

/ davidsschrock

In typological fashion, the names of Israel engraved on the breastpiece & ephod show how the priest represents God’s people before YHWH.  In other words, in Exodus 28 we learn that the priestly duty was to represent Israel before God in the holy of holies (cf Heb 5:1).  Specifically, verses 12 and 29 say that Israel was to remember them as they were kept on Aaron’s heart as he entered the holy of holies.  In this way, he made atonement for Israel.  Notice, in the OT, he didn’t make atonement for Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon.  He only represented those who were redeemed from Egypt, who passed through the sea, who were in covenant with God at Sinai.  It tells us that the priestly service was for those who are in covenant with God.  In fact, the Exodus 28 is a very strong typological argument for definite atonement.  Let’s consider.

To start, the priestly garments are made “for glory and for beauty” (28:2), but they are not simply for aesthetics; they are highly symbolic and even instructive for discerning what the priest did behind the veil.[1]  As Carol Meyers puts it, “priestly office and priestly garb are inextricably related.”[2]  G.K. Beale has developed the connection between the priestly garments, the temple and the universe,[3] but there is also good reason to examine the relationship between the priest and the covenant people.

In this regard, the priestly attire ‘visualizes’ the particular nature of the atonement.[4]  It does so in this way: From head to foot, the priest is to wear the holy attire designed and decorated to teach Israel and later generations what the priest is doing as he enters into the holy of holies.[5]  Of greatest interest (and illumination) are the “shoulder pieces” and the “breastpiece of judgment.”   Concerning the former, YHWH instructs,

And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together… You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel… And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance (Exod 28:6-12; cf. 39:2-7).

The purpose of the shoulder pieces is far more than ancient Near Eastern fashion or utilitarian function.  The names of the twelve tribes were “deeply and permanently cut into the onyx,”[6] signifying the priest’s intimate connection with the people of Israel. As the priest of the covenant, he mediated for the people of the covenant.  Of this “corporate solidarity” that the priest shared with Israel, it was a necessary function of his office to be in communicative relation with those whom he represents. In other words, the priest does not mediate for an unspecified group or number, the “stones of remembrance” were designated to represent “the sons of Israel”—one stone for each tribe.  So that, when the priest entered the tabernacle, and later the temple he did so with Israel on his heart and mind.[7]

In the same way, the high priest’s breastpiece of judgment functioned as a symbol of the high priest’s covenantal representation.[8]  Moses records,

You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work… It shall be square and doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes… So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD (Exod 28:15-30; cf. 39:8-21).

Like the shoulder pieces, the breastpiece is designed to bring the sons of Israel into “regular remembrance before the Lord” (v. 29).  Again, as a priest chosen from his brothers for his brothers and their families, he does not generally atone, intercede, or minister.  Rather, God has appointed the high priest to make atonement for God’s particular people, people who knew they had a priest.  Rightly, D.K. Stuart says, “the high priest symbolized Israel” and “that whatever he did, he did as the people’s representative, and his actions would have the same essential effect that they would have if all of them, one by one, had done the same thing.”[9]  This, by itself doesn’t prove definite atonement, but it does show the exact representation of his priestly office.  It is not general, but particular.[10]

In fact, this notion of personal relationship between priest and people has been forcefully argued by Hugh Martin as evidence against indefinite atonement. Unpacking Hebrews 5:1, which develops the Levitical priesthood, Martin argues that the law of the office of the priest “rests on personal relation,” and this relation is not abstract.  Rather, the priest represents “individual men, particular persons.”[11]  Moving from textual observation to dogmatic assertion, he concludes,

If the atonement of Christ falls under the category of His Priesthood, it is impossible it can be impersonal, indefinite, unlimited; for the priesthood is not.  In order to its very constitution, it pre-requires personal relation; and the same must be true of the Atonement, unless the Atonement transpires outside the limits and actings and conditions of the priesthood…The pre-requisite of personal relation to particular persons is so indispensable in all real priesthood whatsoever.  It is true of “every” priest that is taken from among men [Heb 5:1].  Any “general reference” contradictory to this, or in addition to this—except simply community nature, secured by his being taken from among men—violates the very first principles of the office.[12]

While the priestly garments do not give conclusive evidence for Christ’s particular work on the cross; they are very suggestive.  Moreover, the fact that Christ, as the antitype of Israel’s high priest, wears the golden plate on his head declaring ‘Holy to the Lord’ and the names of his covenant people on his chest; there is great reason to see in his attire the inseparable union of Christ and his elect from every nation.

What do you think? Would love to hear how you think Christ’s priestly garments typify the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

[1]They also connote a strong sense of authority.  See Douglas Stuart, Exodus, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2006), 604.

[2]Carol Meyers, Exodus, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 240.

[3]G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission, 39-45.

[4]For instance, speaking of the priest in his vestments, Alec Motyer writes, “he is the visual display of the Lord’s ‘judgment,’ his opinion regarding his people” (J. A. Motyer, The Message of Exodus, The Bible Speaks Today, ed. J.A. Motyer [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005], 279.

[6]Stuart, Exodus, 609.  Stuart’s offhand comment about the engraving does not in itself signify anything about the definite nature of the atonement, but it does add to the mounting evidence that the priestly work was for a people whom he would not forget (cf. Isa 49:16).

[7]“This feature [the names engraved on the priestly attire] has commemorative symbolic value, bringing all Israel into the tabernacle with Aaron as he carries out the rituals thought to help secure the well-being of the people or adjudicate their conflicts” (Meyers, Exodus, 241).

[8]“The breastpiece was not merely a patch on his ephod but a square frontal vest, a very prominent, central, expansive, symbolic display of the covenant relation of God to his people” (Stuart, Exodus, 610).

[9]Stuart, Exodus, 611.

[10]On this point, it should be noted that the priests served the covenant people only, and they stood against those who were outside the people of God (David Williams, The Office of Christ and Its Expression in the Church, 13-14).

[11]All these quotes are taken from Hugh Martin’s discussion of the nature of Christ’s priestly office in The Atonement, 58.  Martin ties this particular relationship to the definite nature of the atonement.  Speaking of the Levitical priests, he says, “The priests of Levi were chosen for, or in lieu of, the first-born [Num 3]; and they were ordained for [Lev 8-9], or in room and on behalf of men, even for the Israel of God collectively and individually.  They acted for individuals; and besides such action, they had no priestly action whatsoever, no official duty to discharge.  The introduction of a ‘general reference’ into the theory of their office is an absurdity” (The Atonement, 65).

[12]The Atonement, 63-65.

Sermon Notes: What You Wear Matters More Than You Think

/ davidsschrock

Beware of Externalism

Too often, religious talk about clothing crashes on the rocks of legalism or drowns in the sea of irrelevance.  On one side of the aisle are Christians who measure their holiness by the length of their dress or the style of their hair; and on the other side are those who reject social norms for dressing and end up looking like they slept in their clothes all night–to steal a line from Back to the Future.

In both cases, the problem is externalism–making Christianity about something that you do on the outside instead of something that Christ did in history and that the Holy Spirit does within you.  Ironically, this is of a piece with a certain kind of Mormon error. Pointing to Exodus 28, their false religion–for Mormonism is not Christian–finds support for holy undergarments.  Listen to their statement, from Mormon-Underwear.com.

For temple-going Mormons, the garment serves much the same purpose as religious clothing throughout history—it privately sets them apart from the world and signifies a covenant between the wearer and God. There is no professional clergy in the LDS Church, so in some ways the garment serves as a symbol of the lay clergy, where both men and women share in the responsibilities and blessings of the priesthood…

The meaning attached to the garment by devout Mormons transcends the fabric and design used to create the garment. It is sacred to the wearer not for what it is, but for what it represents. It reminds the wearer of the continuing need for repentance and obedience to God, the need to honor binding covenants voluntarily made in the temple, and the need to cherish and share truth and virtue in our daily living. By so doing, the garment helps the wearer to focus his or her life on Jesus Christ and to thereby lay claim on the blessings promised to those who do so.

Christians can point the finger and perhaps even snicker, but the problem is, Christians do the same thing today.  Whether it is Simon Schrock—who is not of immediate  relation—who has written the book What the redeemed should wear?, insinuating that redemption is externally apparent, or countless Christian clothing companies who challenge devoted teens to boldly wear their faith, the problem is that Exodus 28 does not point to our clothing options.  It points to Jesus.

Here is the point.  Wear whatever you want.  Your clothing doesn’t save you.  It doesn’t make you more acceptable to God.  It would, if we were Levitical priests, but we are not.  The message of the gospel is one of inner renewal, not outward conformity.

What You Wear Still Matters

With all of that said, I think what you wear is of eternal importance.  More accurately, whose clothes you wear is of eternal importance. In fact, the redemptive story, from one angle, can be told from the perspective of Nakedness and Clothing.  Consider:

In the garden, man and woman were naked and unashamed; their innocence permitted them to be naked before God (Gen 2:24).  However, after the fall, clothing was needed.  Adam and Eve sensed that, so they made fig-leaf fashion.  They hid themselves under the clothes they made for themselves–sounds familiar to many of us today!  But such man-made garments never cover the sin and insecurities that the fall produced.  Adam, Eve, and everyone of their offspring needed and needs divine covering.

So God slaughtered an animal and clothed Adam and Eve.  In the rest of the Bible, God’s saving plan is seen in the way he clothes his people.  This is seen in Exodus 28 and Psalm 45, where the bride of the king is adorned in a royal robe.  But even more to the point, Isaiah 61:10 says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”  Salvation comes from God’s clothing us.

From this position of being clothed in Christ, we are called to put off the old ways of life, and to put on the new. Notice what Paul says in Colossians 3:9-10, Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.  Though, the language is not exactly the same; the idea of putting off the impure garments of this age and putting on pure garments of the new age (cf. 2 Cor 5:4).

A concluding thought: The danger in Exodus 28 is simply principalizing the text, such that it becomes a handbook for clothing, instead of seeing how it shows us our uncleanness and the need to be clothed with Christ.  From start to finish, the Christian message is how God clothes impure sinners in his righteous robes.

This is the saving message of Exodus 28:  Jesus is your clothing.  His priestly garments make you holy, so far as you trust in him.  He is your righteous robe.  That is what separates you from the world, more than any wash and wear you can put on.

So, trust in the garments Jesus offers, and you will not be naked or ashamed when he calls you to stand before him at the judgment (Rev 3:18).

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Christ’s Priestly Garments (Exodus 28)

/ davidsschrock / 1 Comment

Read by itself and without understanding how it fits in the larger narrative of Exodus and the rest of the Bible, Exodus 28 sounds like a cross between a jeweler’s catalogue and a tailor’s procedural manual.  If seen in this way alone, it can make Exodus 28 feel unfamiliar and unimportant.  However, what Exodus 28 does for the Christian is give a colorful explanation of what Christ has done for his saints.  It lists a number of priestly garments worn by Levitical priests, and it foreshadows a number of important things that Christ did when he assumed the mantle of a priest greater than Aaron.

Today, we will consider the priestly garments in the order they appear in Exodus 28.

The Ephod

In the Bible, ephods are typically involved in the process of worship—true worship and false (cf. Judges 18:14-20).  In Exodus 28, God gives Israel the true ephod for worship.  It was a royal apron, as R. K. Harrison describes it,  “a sleeveless vest, which fitted close to the body and may have extended somewhat below the hips.” It was made of the finest fabrics–“gold, blue, and purple and scarlet yarn, and fine twined linen”–materials that matched the make up of the tabernacle.  In other words, when the priests came into God’s house, they had to dress for the occasion.

Significantly, the ephod is fastened to the high priests body by two onyx shoulder pieces.  And on each of these of shoulder pieces are the names of Israel’s twelve tribes—six on one shoulder, six on the other.  What were they for?  “They were a reminder that Aaron served God as high priest, not for his own benefit, but on behalf of the Israelites” (T. D. Alexander, From Paradise to Promised Land, 198).

Breast Piece of Judgment

On top of the ephod was the “breastpiece of judgment.”  Like everything else, it was a “skilled work,” one that corresponded to the ephod—literally, “in the style of the ephod,” Moses was to make the breastpiece “of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it” (verse 15).

The shape of the breastpiece is square and sits in the middle of the chest—over the heart.  It is doubled, or folded over, so that the Urim and the Thummim may be placed in the breastpiece (v. 30).  Now on the breastpiece are 12 stones—four rows of three.  Verses 17-21 describe it like this,

A row of sardius, & topaz, carbuncle shall be the 1st row; the 2nd row an emerald, a sapphire, & a diamond; the third row a jacinth, an agate, & an amethyst; & the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.

These precious stones indicate the value of God’s people in eyes of God, but God’s love is not mere sentimentality; it is effective.  The names of the tribes of Israel indicate the way the priest represents the people before God.  As verse 29 states, “So Aaron shall bear the names of sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD.”  The breastpiece then is not simply for glory and beauty; it serves the purpose of mediating God’s blessing towards Israel, and protecting God’s covenant people from imminent danger.

Urim and Thummim 

The function of this breastpiece is also seen in verse 30, “And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart, when he goes before the Lord.  Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.”   No one definitively knows what these are.  When they are mentioned in Scripture they are involved in decision-making and discerning the will of God. For instance in 1 Samuel, when God does not respond to Saul because of Saul’s foolish leadership, to determine where the fault lies, he employs the Urim and Thummim.

Therefore Saul said, “O LORD God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped (14:41).

Robe  

Under the ephod, Aaron was to wear a robe.  More than ephods, robes appear throughout the Bible: They were usually adorned by people of rank; they symbolized authority and/or status; kings often adorned robes as did their court and their brides. In short, robes function as a status symbol.  Think of Joseph’s multi-colored robe.  Such is the case with priests.  These men are the chosen instruments of blessing and mediation in Israel.  Their apparel and adornment–especially the high priest as he served–reminded Israel of their important role.

In the NT, this imagery continues.  For instance, Jesus in Revelation is clothed in a royal robe (1:13; 19:16).  And so are his people (6:11).  All those who trust in Christ, will be clothed in royal, maybe even priestly garments (3:18).  In fact, in Revelation, the book is filled with royal priests—Christ is the priest who now reigns as king; and all of his people are blood-bought royal priests.  

So in Exodus, the robe demonstrates the especially favored position of the priest, who has intimate (though dangerous) access to God’s royal throne.  The robe itself has bells on it.  Some have said this was to announce his coming into God’s presence, but this seems a little odd.  He doesn’t need to be warned of what he already knows.  Rather, it points to another reality, namely that the tinkling of bells announces the sacrifice is being effected.  Verse 35: “It shall be on Aaron when he ministers, its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord, & when he comes out, so that he does not die

Turban

There rests on Aaron’s head a turban.  Like everything else, it is made for beauty and glory, but the beauty and glory are not limited to the visual.  There is a gold plate on the forehead that says much about what the high priest achieves as he makes atonement.  Douglas Stuart explains, “The gold forehead plate was not primarily decorative but apparently symbolized Aaron’s role as representative of the people in the process of atonement (v. 38).”  To say it another way, the work that Aaron did on behalf of Israel achieved or maintained their holy standing.

In Exodus 19:6, Israel is called to be a holy nation.  They are not naturally holy.  They, like us, are a sinful people.  The question is: How can they be holy?  The answer: God’s holiness is imparted to them by the priest.  As the Exodus 29 shows, Aaron is consecrated and made holy, but even more his service purifies the people of Israel from their sins, which defile them and make them unholy.

This is a beautiful picture of the way God cleanses sinners from the acts and attitudes that defile them.  This is true in part in the Levitical system; this is increased infinitely in Christ.

The Coat and Under Garments

Finally, not only are the external garments holy unto the Lord, but his undergarments are as well.  Verse 39 describes a fine linen coat that would have been up against the body, that the priest would have worn.  And verses 40-43 describe a holy undergarments for the purpose completely covering the nakedness of the priest.

While it may seem strange to us that Exodus includes this mention of nakedness.  It reminds us that from Genesis forward, man is not innocent.  While in the Garden Adam was naked and unashamed, now mankind’s nakedness is a mark of shame and impurity before the Lord.  Because of our sin, all humanity is in need of holy apparel–clothes that man cannot manufacture, but rather that must come from the Lord (cf. Isa 61:10; Rev 3:18).

Overall, Exodus 28 is a wonderful picture of the way God clothed the priest in Israel, such that this sinful man could come into the presence of the Lord and atone for the rest of Israel.  But still this doesn’t touch the rest of humanity or people today.  So, in the days ahead, we will see how these garments point to Christ and apply to believers who have been clothed with Christ and his righteousness.  In this way, Exodus 28 helpfully shows us our shameful nakedness before God and the way that God has intended to clothe us once and for all.  Stay tuned!

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Tabernacle as a Royal Victory Palace

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

A Royal Palace

Finally, the tabernacle is a royal palace, built with the materials plundered from the defeated Egyptians (Exod 12:35-36; 25:3-7).  In this way, the tabernacle is a memorial to the King of Israel’s victory over the king of Egypt.  Like the Arc D’Triumph that marked Napoleon’s greatest victory over his enemies, or like the way victorious coaches have their names assigned to gymnasiums and stadiums, so the tabernacle (later temple) served as a marker for the way the God of Israel defeated the surrounding nations. We see this aspect in a handful of ways.

Materials

First, notice that the materials that are collected are costly, beautiful, and fitting for a king.

25:3-7. This is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, & stones for setting, for the ephod &  for the breastpiece.

It is easy to miss just how expensive these materials are: First, the amount of gold, silver, and bronze is amazing. “According to [Exodus] 38:21-31 approximately one ton of gold, four tons of silver, and two-and-a-half tons of bronze were used to make the tabernacle and its furnishings” (T.D. Alexander, From Paradise to Promised Land, 195).

Next, the dyed materials—blue, purple, scarlet—were not only the garments of royalty, they too were very rare and costly.  From where the priests served, the house was absolutely breathtaking.  It was meant to be.  The God of creation who is a master-builder and magnicifient artist, has called Israel to construct a house for him that is worthy of his glory.

Ark of the Testimony  

Not only are the materials royal.  The furniture is too.  In the Holy of Holies, sits the ark of testimony.  Overlaid with gold, this is God’s throne.  This is where he sits and rules over his people.  In fact, Exodus 25:16 records, “And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.”  The covenant laid out in Exodus 20-23 was stored in the tabernacle, affirming God’s kingship in Israel and Israel’s absolute promise to obey all God’s commands. (For an in-depth discussion of the relationship between the covenant and the house of God, see Meredith Kline, The Structure of Biblical Authority).  Interestingly then, when Israel later rebelled against God, one of the greatest signs of his judgment was the destruction of the temple.

Moreover, in the New Testament, when the temple veil was torn, this was not only a picture of the access that New Testament believers have (Heb 10:19-25), it was a picture of God’s royal judgment upon Israel for their failure to keep covenant.

A Hint from ANE

Last, the pagan world surrounding Israel gives an interpretive context (by common grace) for understanding what the building of a temple signifies.  Jeffrey Niehaus makes this point very well in his book, Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology. In the Ancient Near East, like with Napoleon’s arch, temples were built at the end of military campaigns.  Niehaus records the words of one particular Egyptian leader,

[Ra] begat me to do that which he did, to execute that which he command me to do… I will make a work, namely, a great house [a temple], For my father Atum [Pharaoh].  He will make it broad, according as he has caused me to conquer (90).

We find this same pattern is in Scripture. In Exodus, God saves Israel out of Egypt, and has them build a victory palace.  In Samuel and Kings, God gives David the victory over the enemies of God, and he desires to build a house for God.  While God does not permit David to build God a house, his son Solomon does with the pattern revealed to David (1 Chronicles 28).  Then in the New Testament, Jesus comes promising to build a house for the name of the Lord one that the gates of hell cannot defeat (Matt 16:18).  What is he doing?  He is building a victory temple.  Consider Paul’s flow of thought in Ephesians 2, where he concludes,

Ephesians 2:19-22. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (See my exegetical paper on Ephesians 2 for a more thorough explanation).

This is the message of Scripture: God who created a cosmic temple in which to dwell, set man in Eden in order to expand all over the earth.  Man sinned, and ruined that plan.  But God has sent a Second Adam to come and finish what Adam failed to do.

He has redeemed a people and he is now building a place.  And the question we must ask ourselves is this: Is that our story and our hope? Are you a living stone affixed in his temple, or are you trying to build your own–a house for your own name?  Are you worshiping the hero of God’s epic story who is building his victory memorial, or are you trying to create your own epic?  Rest assured, if you are looking to win the victory for yourself, you will lose out in the end.

Rather than finding joy in our own earthly successes, we must find joy in the promise of dwelling forever with the God of heaven.  We must cry with the Psalmist,

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! (Ps 84)

May that such longing for God’s dwelling place rule our hearts and govern our hopes!

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Sermon Notes: The Tabernacle as God’s Meeting Place

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

A Tent of Meeting

The holiness of God in his sanctuary is matched by the plan for God to meet with his people at the tabernacle.  Now to avoid confusion, it should be said that later, in Exodus 33:7-11 to be exact, there will be a tent constructed that is called the “tent of meeting.”  This is not the same thing as the tabernacle.  This is a temporary meeting place where Moses met with God, but this was only to last until the tabernacle was constructed.  Still, the purpose was the same—to meet with God.

In Exodus 25, there are two verses that make this meeting place explicit.

25:8. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

25:22. 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.

While the meeting place plays a significant role in the life of Israel, it also helps Christians today to understand the kind of relationship that we have with God in and through Jesus Christ.  Let us notice three ways that the tabernacle in Exodus foreshadows Christ–the true tent of meeting.

Jesus is the True Tabernacle

That God instructs Moses to build this tabernacle foreshadows God’s loving desire to meet with rebellious humanity.  In this way, the tabernacle is an incredible source of encouragement.  God who dwells in heaven, has moved heaven and earth to reach down to us.  When we could not get up to him; he climbed down the ladder to get to us.

John sees this tabernacling impulse of God in Jesus Christ.  John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth.”  The word for “dwelt” is literally “tabernacled.”  In Jesus, we have a greater tabernacle, one made without human hands, in which the fullness of God dwells bodily (Col 2:9). Likewise, John says that Jesus is full of grace and truth, which also references Exodus, for in chapter 34, God “appears” to Moses and describes himself as a God as “abounding in steadfast love (grace) and faithfulness (truth).” 

When we read about the tabernacle, we cannot comprehend fully its significance without seeing that it is the shadow of the substance of Jesus Christ.  Yet, in the tabernacle, we don’t just have a general connection between the tabernacle and Christ, it also gets more specific.

The Incarnation

In Exodus 25, there are three kinds of furniture.  In verses 25:10-22, Moses receives directions for constructing the ark of the covenant.  In verses 23-30, a blueprint for the table for the bread of the presence is given; and in verses 31-40, the golden lampstand, otherwise known as a Menora is given.  Each are covered with gold and placed inside the residence of God.  Now while the gold speaks of the value and worth of the deity who inhabits this home, the three pieces of furniture—a seat, a table, and a light—were the common furnishing of the ancient Israelite.

When God comes to dwell with Israel, he assumes the same humble residence as those in the wilderness.  Though not incarnation in the New Testament sense of the term, this is a kind of incarnation that prepares the way for the true Immanuel.  His gracious condescension meets us where we are, and he becomes just like us.  He is not just a God transcendent.  He is a God close, personal, and as near as the hearing of his word.

We see the incarnation in another way as well.  On the inside of the tabernacle are beautiful colors—scarlet, blue, and purple.  Everything is covered in gold.  It shines forth the glory of God.  Yet, from the outside, the temple is drab.  The beautiful garments on the inside are covered by the black curtains of goats hair.  While the light burns eternal inside the tabernacle, all outside is dark.

Again this teaches us much about the life and ministry of Christ.  When he came to the earth, he did not come in power, glory, or beauty.  Rather, he became a common carpenter.  If you saw him in a crowd, he would not have had a radiant glow or a halo over his head.  He was plain and common.  He was human.  So common was his appearance that Isaiah can say, “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should rejoice him” (53:2).

This is the antithesis of our culture and the world at large.  In our world, image really is everything.  Have you ever see an ugly person on the news?  What about on the cover of a magazine?  On TV?  We are a culture who has confused glamour for beauty.  I would go so far as to say that we know little of  what true beauty is.  The tabernacle is a corrective for this.  God’s dwelling with humanity is beautiful.  Yet, from an earthly point of view it is unimpressive.  Such is the wisdom of God.

Atonement  

Not only does the tabernacle point us to Christ’s incarnation, it also foreshadows and explains his atonement.  We see this in the altar and the mercyseat.

The Bronze Altar.  Standing in the center of the courtyard, the priests could not enter the tabernacle without passing this giant altar.  As T.D. Alexander describes it, “this altar dominated the area in front of the tabernacle; it was half the width of the tabernacle (2.5 metres) and over 4 feet high” (T.D. Alexander, From Paradise to Promised Land, 200). It was constantly burning with sacrifices, and as Hebrews picks it up, it teaches us how much more valuable Christ’s New Covenant sacrifice was than all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood (Heb 13:10-12).

The Mercy Seat.  In addition to the altar that stands outside the tabernacle, there is the mercy seat that rests inside God’s inner chamber.  It was here that God dwelled, and significantly it was a place where mercy might be found.  Though a series of purification rituals were needed for the priest to come into the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement, it was nonetheless a place of mercy and grace in time of need (cf. Heb 4:14-16).

Significantly, the name “mercy seat” is translated in Greek by the word, hilasterion, which is the word translated in English as “expiation,” “propitiation,” or “atoning sacrifice” (see Graham Cole for an up to date, careful, and evangelical reading of hilasterion in the New Testament in his God the Peacemaker).  That the the mercy seat is the place where God’s wrath is removed and replaced with his favor is significant; more significant however, is the way in which that propitiation is procured.  It is by the blood of the lamb that is sprinkled on the throne of God.  In the Old Covenant, this atoning sacrifice permitted God’s people to dwell in his presence.  It protected Israel in the flesh from God’s anger breaking out on those in the camp.  However, in the New Covenant, Christ’s sacrifice does not merely atone for the flesh; it purifies the conscience as well.  Moreover, it is not applied to a shadowy tabernacle on earth; iti is applied to the heavenly altar in the throne room of God.  Thus, his sacrifice is far superior and finally efficacious.

Thus we conclude today with the statement in Hebrews 9:12-14, that depends heavily on sacrificial system established in Exodus.

[Christ] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Soli Deo Gloria, dss