If you're a visitor tonight, we are working through the book of Exodus, and I invite you to turn to chapter 26 tonight. Chapter 26, we will consider the entirety of the chapter. You better get there quickly because we should probably get reading quickly on this one. This is quite a few verses. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a longer sermon, by the way. Exodus chapter 26. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen in blue and purple and scarlet yarns. And you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain shall be 28 cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains shall be the same size. Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise, you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set. The loop shall be opposite one another, and you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single hole. You shall also make curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains you shall make. The length of each curtain shall be 30 cubits and the breadth of each curtain, four cubits. The 11 curtains shall be the same size. You shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves. And the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. And you shall make 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is the outermost in one set and 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. You shall make 50 clasps of bronze and put the clasps into the loops and couple the tent together that it may be a single hole. And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on one side and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side to cover it. And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned ram's skins and a covering of goat skins on top. You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. There shall be two tenons in each frame for fitting together. So you shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. You shall make the frames for the tabernacle, 20 frames for the south side and 40 bases of silver. you shall make under the 20 frames two bases under one frame for its two tenons and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side, 20 frames, and there are 40 bases of silver, two bases under one frame and two bases under the next frame. And for the rear of the tabernacle westward, you shall make six frames and you shall make two frames for the corners of the tabernacle in the rear they shall be separate beneath but joined at the top at the first ring thus you shall be with the with both of them thus it shall be with both of them they shall form the two corners and there shall be eight frames with their bases of silver 16 bases two bases under one frame and two bases under another frame shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, the five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. The middle bar halfway up the frames shall run from end to end. You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars and you shall overlay the bars with gold. Thus you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain and you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen it shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it and you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold with hooks of gold on four bases of silver and you shall hang the veil from the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil and the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy. You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place and you shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table and you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen embroidered with needlework. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them. There ends the reading of God's word tonight. And just a case for inspiration, you just read it. I don't think we would ever write anything like that, would we? It's a long section tonight. I hope it's very helpful to see how important this structure was in teaching the whole plan of salvation. I'm sure one of your great frustrations in the Christian life is just how distant it often seems that God is. We feel that. We struggle with that. There is no doubt that all of us want a closer connection with God, don't we? A closer relationship, as we're constantly hearing. And so we have books on the bookshelves at the Christian stores. endless, trying to strengthen the relationship with God as we hear. If we're going to be honest, the real rub comes in worship, doesn't it? Sometimes it just feels powerless. Does this feel powerful tonight? Was there power? Did you feel power in reading that tonight? I hope I woke you up afterward. That's our struggle with these passages. My guess is we rarely even read them. Isn't that the truth? But we're all on this quest to find real power and as we hear so often to have God brought to us in a way that's meaningful. I hear this. That maybe we're missing something. I hear that a lot. That temptation really begins to set in, I believe, for us. Maybe there's something we think wrong with our Christianity. How come I'm just not experiencing much? And so we set ourselves to become more spiritually alive to the Lord. We want His presence. We want to worship experience. This is what people are constantly after and talking about. Where is the power that the Scriptures speak about? And so we're on this quest to create it. Today, the fads and the techniques promise us some kind of real spiritual experience of God's presence. And this stuff is endless. You would think if 40 days of purpose really worked, we'd still be reading it. But that book doesn't sell anymore. You think if the prayer of Jabez really worked, we'd still be reading it. But that doesn't work anymore. No one buys that. One fad after another. What's interesting to me in this whole current Christian climate is the assumption that to give us real, alive, vibrant Christianity, spirit-filled christianity as we hear it comes if we can make god more attainable and we think that sheer emotion is must be what makes that so so we think the more emotion we show must mean that it's the more real how false that is how false that is tonight we're going to look at something very important israel was taught which you read all those details israel was taught something very clear you don't come to god on your terms you don't come to god on your terms if you try to come to god on your terms or say we can learn from others how to worship the lord you know what you'll create a golden calf and then get wrath this is what ends up happening when they tried to bring god to them so this is a peculiar moment and special moment in our study now of this structure that God commanded to be built in the wilderness, and God taught them that their greatest need was not what they thought, but that the design of the tabernacle and its furnishings and its furniture and all this design tonight kept on declaring that He was who they need, but that God had to come down to them. This is what it's declaring to us. God had to make the way and that he would make a way for them to have access on his terms because it had already been lost in the fall. The whole tabernacle taught Israel God had come down to dwell with them. It's a real special moment in what's being commanded here. This is not boring. It's special because God is constructing something for him to come and be with Israel. The tabernacle was the center of Israel's spiritual life. We've been studying, has been God's design for his dwelling place among them. That's what we've been studying with all the furniture. And remember that as we looked at this structure and began to look at the pieces of furniture, we were being introduced to the whole structure from the inside out. We began with the most holy place. And in the most holy place, we saw the Ark of the Covenant that was mentioned here in verse 31 and following, the Ark of the Covenant, and above that, the mercy seat, and then above that, the outstretched cherubim, where their arms were made and fashioned, angelic-like figures fashioned, hovering over the mercy seat. And what a powerful image that was clearly depicting a replica of the throne of God. It was a replica of the throne. God symbolically dwelt above the mercy seat, declaring to Israel that he was with them in the wilderness. From the most holy place, we then went out to the holy place. That was separated, we'll look at tonight, by this curtain. And there were three pieces of furniture in there that we've been studying to so far. The table of showbread, and then last time, the lampstand. The table of showbread declaring His constant provision for His people, that He is the source of all of their need of caring for them. And then the candlestick, that He is their light and their life. Well, tonight we study some of the detail in erecting this tabernacle itself. And I know it's somewhat challenging. It's the architectural plans for the tabernacle. And unless you're into building plans and you like studying this stuff, it's not very interesting to the rest of us, right? Some people really get into studying plans. But this was no ordinary structure. The whole thing was constantly speaking of a heavenly reality. This is your study of heaven if you want to know what heaven's like. This is how we study heaven in the Bible. Everyone says, well, where's your study of heaven? Go here. It was the center of Israel's religious life, and it spoke of the plan of salvation of how we would get to this place. But in this study here, the Lord wants us not to pass over these details too quickly to understand the bigger picture of what's being constructed. So let's look at this briefly tonight in a broad stroke. I'm not going into all the detail. We'll never get out of here. But if you look at the first section here found in verses 1 through 6, you'll notice that it is initially describing the tent that is to surround the holy of holies or the most holy place. You'll see that there right at the beginning in verse 26. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and you shall make them with cherubim skillfully woven into them. He then goes on to give the dimensions here and measurements of the curtain. Linen curtains, it's generally received as. The first curtain you know they were woven in linen were two sets of five linen curtains woven together as one. So what's described is you have the loops and the yarn and the clasps to make these two massive linen curtains, one curtain that would cover the entire tabernacle structure, the most holy place and the holy place. They were united together, these two sets of curtains, with these clasps. What's of interest here is what God told them to weave into the curtains. Did you catch that? cherubim. So all into these curtains, these skillful workers, and you're going to see here in chapter 31 that he raises up two men and he puts his spirit into them to do this. It'll be a great moment to study that. But these guys and the community built this structure and all into the first set of curtains were angelic figures all over the place. Woven in. Now this was the inner layer. So when you would walk in as a priest, you'd walk in and on the walls next to you and on the ceilings, all you'd see, cherubim everywhere. Turn around, cherubim. That's the first thing that really stands out as we look at this the second set is generally received as goat's hair they're described in verses 7 through 14 and the lord commanded them to be made from goat's hair the extremely sturdy covering was used to cover over the middle east to make the the middle to make the tents you'll notice it was uh known as a goat hair tent you shall make curtains of goat's hair verse 7 to be a tent over the tabernacle you shall make 11 curtains so again you had two sets here you'll notice dimensions are given to make sure that they are longer as they set over the first set of linen that they are longer and came down when you walked in as sort of a a beautiful white paneling all around the bottom, paneling, silky nature, the goat's hair. You'll notice that one set had five that covered the most holy place, the other had six, and the sixth curtain doubled up in the front to form a triangular sort of entrance, forefront of the tent. Then you had, you'll notice what some say are ram skins, verse 14, you shall make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent tanned ram skins and a covering of goat skins it says there on the top and i was given by dr vanney a very interesting long article on whether that should be goat skins if you want to read that i'm glad to pass that on to you i'm sure you all really are interested in that i did find it very fascinating that this was a very detailed work of what was done of beading. Anyways, we'll look at that maybe more later. In verses 15 through 30, you have described poles to make this. In the frame of the tabernacle, verse 15, for the tabernacle you shall make boards of acacia wood standing upright. So there were almost 50 columns of wood. They were covered with gold. And they were around 15 feet tall and the columns rested on two silver pedestals per column, making about a hundred of these pedestals. The pillars had golden crossbars with double columns at the corners. And you'll notice in verse 30 that Moses is told, again, to raise the tabernacle just according to the pattern that was shown to him on the mount. So that gives you, maybe quickly, too quickly, An idea here of these curtains, the goat's hair, the ram skins, and then this top outer layer that went over, and then the poles that held the whole thing up with the pedestals on the bottom, gold and beautiful. The final detail tonight comes in verse 31. And then we'll stop with the details and look at the meaning. She'll make the lampstand, I'm sorry, verse 31 of chapter 26, And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim, skillfully worked into it. You shall hang it on the four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold on the four bases. And you shall hang the veil from the clasp and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy. Separation there. And you shall set the table outside the veil, the lamp stand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table. And you shall put the table on the north side. You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen embroidered with needlework. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia and overlay them with gold. This is a fascinating detail. There were two doors, two veils to this structure. The first was made of blue, purple, scarlet, fine twine yarn. It was to be a piece of artwork that took great, great effort, needlework and embroidering. The most important thing to notice is that the first color for the screen door is blue. It was hung over the holy place where the table were and the candlestick was. The second veil is really important. It was just as glorious as the outer door with blue, purple, scarlet, fine white linens. Did you notice what was also on this door? It shall be woven with the artistic design of cherubim. And behind that veil was the Ark of the Testimony. And there, this veil divided off the holy place from the most holy place. Six-inch-thick curtain. The most standout color being blue, it was called the shielding curtain. The question here tonight is, what did the Israelites understand by it? This glorious structure is given so much detail, so beautiful, so much work, so radiant. What is it? To an Israelite, what did it all mean? They were to explain this to their children. What did God tell Moses when this was planned? Back in 25, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them according to all that I show you. I'm giving you the blueprints. I want it done just to a T. This is not of your making. When we compare that with the book of Hebrews, the tabernacle is called a copy of the true one. So let's walk around it for a minute and then into it. What do I mean? Think about it. The priest walks in and he steps into the holy place. He looks up and he looks all around and there are these beautiful images of cherubim all over the place. The screen door that He entered was beautiful blue and radiant colors. This was an earthly replica of the throne room. This is why God's saying it, pattern it to what I show you. But God Himself said, I'm coming down to dwell with you. So it was a microcosm of the whole universe. He's the center. We're not. It's been said that inside was heaven and outside was the earth. And who's at the center of it all? His throne. It'd be wrong to think that God was sort of boxed in in the wilderness in this little structure. That's not whatever Israel was ever to be taught or to think. As many have noted, this was the exact opposite that was being said to Israel. This was teaching that God sits enthroned over the whole world. So when they saw then, in the wilderness was a visual of heaven. What was being described to them as a sort of door in the sky right in front of them. And deep into the heavens is the throne room where Christ is, who sits high and lifted up. Remember, Isaiah described the glory of the Lord's train of His robe that filled the temple. That glory was so bright, Isaiah couldn't even look. He had to duck and cover, woe is me, I'm undone from a man of unclean lips. He saw a glimpse of the glory and light of God and he covered and pronounced curses on himself. So here we have God in a personal way tabernacling among them to show that he alone is king of heaven and earth. That he's the center of Israel's life and existence as all of the writers have acknowledged about this structure. But you have to understand how important this is for us. God was making a clear visual of His kingship, if you will, in front of them. He's their king. He's their Lord. He's their God. He's the center. Everything else fans out from Him. But there's something else that was revealed. Every Israelite knew it. The problem is that the priest would enter into the holy place and there would be the table of showbread and there would be the illuminating light and this glorious candlestick and there would be the altar of incense and the smell of the incense. We'll come to that next time. But as they turned around and they looked deeper into the tabernacle, all of a sudden, there was the big veil of cherubim. Scary. We can't go in there. We cannot go in there. That thing was walled off. It hung there and there were terrifying images of cherubim on that door, on that veil. Now, if this is a microcosm of the whole, you're asking the question, how do we get into the most holy place? Well, it revealed something they would have all known about for when the Garden of Eden happened, the first thing God did was boot them out of His presence and He put up cherubim with flashing swords. Don't you dare come near. You'll be toast. And they were booted out and they wandered in the darkness. He had drove out the man and placed the cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard them to the entrance to the Tree of Life. And Isaiah saw this frightening reality very similarly when he hears the angels in heaven, the cherubim and the seraphim, flying about saying, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth, the whole earth is full of His glory. Ezekiel described the same thing in Ezekiel chapter 1. when he was describing the moving throne of God, which had wheels. And this big, massive, moving throne had rims, and the thing would move. It was a beautiful structure. And he says, The appearance of the creatures around the throne, this is Revelation 2, were like coals of burning fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures, the fire bright, and out of the fire went lightning. So around the throne was a massive fire wall with nothing but continuous lights and glory and radiation, whatever you want to say, passing between them because God was on fire in their midst. And anyone who got too close or anyone who didn't worship properly was consumed. Kind of makes us ask the question, well, can we learn from everyone in worship? might not want to try that dangerous he's a consuming fire everyone in the old testament understood this when they got glimpses of the glory in whatever sort of veiled form it was and the angels guarded anything profane this was the imagery the angels were guarding anything profane from coming into His presence. God is supreme in His holiness and doesn't tolerate sin and unable to accept what man can offer to Him. Now what a strange dilemma then. This is the dilemma of the exodus. God has come down to them. God has put the structure before them but no one could get to Him. That's the dilemma of Exodus. We're going to see that when the golden calf event happens, Moses has to intercede and Moses says, I'm not going. You said your presence would go with us. And God says, my presence will go. So he's with them, but they're walled off. But something was taught that every year a high priest had to go in there and he would take blood and He would sprinkle it on that throne on the mercy seat. It was all symbolic for something. There in the wilderness sat the tabernacle. God was with them. God had come down. The Hebrew says this, the way into the most holiest had not yet been revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing. the way into the most holy place had not yet been revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing. How could men have access? This veil, cherubim, four to six inches. Well, how beautiful has I been continuing to say when you read in John 1 that He tabernacled among us? Who is Jesus? God. And His body hung on a cross. Did you ever think about what happened the minute Jesus said it's finished? Do you know? And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Finger of God. He ripped it open. the most holy place. So you think about this. Jesus is out, suspended up between earth and heaven, if you will. He's out on Golgotha. He's dying on a cross. The minute He says it's finished, in the temple, where the priests would all have been ministering in the holy place, where they're doing their ministry and service, all of a sudden, they look and see the whole thing falls. Can you imagine? Hebrews says, Christ's flesh was the veil. What does that mean? Well, it's what I said this morning. When He died, when His blood was offered, heaven got right open to you. He opened up heaven. There's no longer need for that structure. He opened it up. now does this make sense i hope tonight to to help maybe with this call to worship therefore brothers since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain of his body what should you do draw near in full assurance of faith having your bodies washed with pure water hebrews explains it christ came as the high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption he went right up there for you he's there for you the high priest entered once a year christ came with the more perfect tabernacle the heavenly one where did the high priest go he went right up there when he ripped it open through his own body he then ascended and went up there for you his blood made the way so that you have the reality no longer earthly tabernacle or earthly structure you are now worshiping in spirit and in truth that's what the new testament is telling me he's the mediator and now that's what i've been trying to say and we'll close with this thought i know i'm not often as clear as i want to be but i don't know it's been a struggle for us to understand worship you know we cannot just learn from what everyone wants to do in worship it's not a free-for-all worship is not about variety worship is not about what what we think will work to stir us up and bring us to god romans says don't try to pull down god to you don't try to pull him up to you don't try to use your own wisdom to get to god that's disastrous that's disastrous and we'll see on the mountain that human emotion while emotions are right and good to have when they're controlled by the truth human emotion out of control landed them in judgment the message of the new testament is you're not kept out you are brought right into the holy place right now so that when we worship, we're right before the face of God because Christ is there and He's our head. There's that verse in Ephesians that says, when He raised, He sat you with Him in the heavenlies. So if He's your head and you're in union with Him, right now you're so joined together as the New Testament authors described it. There is an already dynamic, not yet, but already dynamic to this, in that we are already worshiping in spirit and in truth before the face of God. You're doing what everything in the Old Testament looked forward to. But I hear Christians act like this is now a free-for-all to come in before the face of God into the most holy place and act ridiculous. We have confidence now to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new living way, you are now coming before your king. Not kept out there, but right in in spirit before the face of God. That's the principle of all true worship in the new covenant. That's what Christ has accomplished through his flesh, his veil that was torn. And that incites us to see how wonderful God has been to us. When he told that woman at the well, and she was worried about which mountain to go find God on. Where do we go find God? What did He say? That's done. God is seeking worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that principle that guides us is now being before the face of God. Hebrews tells us, since He is a consuming fire, we should worship Him, and this is the principle of all worship, with reverence and godly fear. reverence, think about that, reverence, and godly fear. You have everything you need. One day you're going to get to see Him in glory. Right now we're carrying a cross. That's why I said worship can be somewhat of a struggle because we are still on the earth walking and carrying a cross, but in spirit. Think about it, in worshiping in spirit and in truth, God Himself is with us. And God wants you to know you have everything you need in Christ. I hope that helps tonight so that when the Psalms say to us, worship the Lord, Psalm 29, in the beauty of holiness, you can say, I'm there. I'm there. I've been brought there by the blood of Christ. And therefore, I've gathered with the angels in heaven who are singing His praise saying, holy, holy, holy. May that give us Thanksgiving tonight that Christ has tabernacled among us and given us access. Let's pray to Him. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You again for training us in Your Word and helping us to understand these spiritual realities that even though there's this struggle of the already and the not yet, that yet there has been something that has been made available now to us because Christ has risen and gone ahead of us and who constantly there mediates and intercedes for us. And so may Lord we understand how special it is to come before you to appreciate what's being said to us when we come that now we have a new and living way open through us through the curtain of His body so we should come with confidence knowing that we are forgiven and that we are your children. Thank you for teaching us this tonight. May we be able, Lord, this week to live thankful lives, thankful in whatever circumstance comes our way that you are our Father and looking forward ultimately to this grand feast and reunion when we are there in heaven in the final reality, worshiping you in the beauty of holiness and enjoying the work of your hands. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.