New Series: Sacred Spaces

• Setup
  • Sacred Spaces
  • Some places are holier than others
    • The holy of holies
    • The ark of the covenant 
    • The garden tomb
  • Some times are holier than others
    • The day of atonement - Yom Kippur 
    • The feast of passover
  • I want you to make the next 7 days a sacred space for your life
• One of the holiest places on earth was the tabernacle
  • The Bible’s brilliance at symbolism
  • A study of the tabernacle of Moses
  • 40% percent of the book of exodus is instructions for building the tabernacle! 
  • I want to focus on the tabernacle... This tent in the desert
• The tabernacle is symbolic of heaven
• The tabernacle gives us a model to approach God

Exodus 25:8–9 (NLT) — 8 “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. 9 You must build this Tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you.

Exodus 29:44–46 (NLT) — 44 Yes, I will consecrate the Tabernacle and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, 46 and they will know that I am the LORD their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the LORD their God.

Sermon intro

Let’s approach the tabernacle

The Tabernacle

1. God wants to be with people
   1. This is a theme throughout the Bible
   2. Very different from other religions
   3. Seen with Adam in the garden
   4. Seen in Jesus - The word became flesh and “tabernacled” among us - John 1:14 
   5. He wants relationship, friendship, closeness
2. God wants to be in the center of our lives
   1. If you wanted to go anywhere in the camp, you passed by the tabernacle
3. God wants to have leadership in our lives
   1. The huge pillar of cloud that rested on the tabernacle would move, and then they moved. 
4. Some verses that tell us how to respond to this reality
   1. Psalm 122:1 (ESV) — 1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
   2. Psalm 122:1 (NLT) — 1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
   3. Psalm 63:1–3 (NLT) — 1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. 3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!
   4. Psalm 84:1 (NLT) — 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
   5. James 4:8 (ESV) — 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 
5. He wants to be at the center of our lives
6. He wants to lead the way
7. The Tabernacle - God wants to be close

The Bronze Altar 

1. The Outer court:
   1. A large courtyard with linen walls. You wouldn’t have been able to see inside from the outside, the linen walls were 7 feet tall. 
   2. It was enclosed on the sides but not above, symbolizing the visible world, the natural world
      1. Temporal things
      2. Carnality
      3. The start of our journey to God
2. A LARGE ALTAR! 
   1. Prominence - It was in the way, it wasn’t on the side. 
   2. Bloodiness - There was blood everywhere
   3. What does this tell us:
      1. Something is wrong that needs to be made right
      2. I will offer God something to be made right
      3. I must bring a specific thing
3. The cross says
   1. Repentance 
   2. Claim Jesus as your sacrifice
      1. Thank Him
      2. Make Him your banner
   3. Surrender your life to him
4. Start this year at the cross
   1. “Here is where I lay it down” song
5. The Bronze Altar - The cross must come first

No one ever came beyond this point except the priests! The Old Testament, there was only an altar for most people. It meant that although their guilt was atoned for, they weren’t holy enough to enter. They came again and again to the altar. Now we can approach the Holy Place through the laver.

The Bronze Laver 

1. Paint the picture:
   1. After the huge altar, and before the tent, stood the laver of washing
   2. It’s construction: Exodus 38:8 (NLT) — 8 Bezalel made the bronze washbasin and its bronze stand from bronze mirrors donated by the women who served at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
   3. It’s purpose: the priests had to wash their hands and their feet before entering the holy place. 
2. Three things from the mirror
   1. Purity prepares us for presence
      1. Exodus 30:17–21 (NLT) — 17 Then the LORD said to Moses, 18 “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water. 19 Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. 20 They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the LORD and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the LORD—or they will die! 21 They must always wash their hands and feet, or they will die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants, to be observed from generation to generation.”
   2. It was made from mirrors
   3. James 1:25 (NLT) — 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
   4. Look into the mirror of the word this year! 
   - we are to examine our heart and our lives
   5. The mirror is:
      1. His Word
      2. His Spirit
      3. His Presence
   6. The Bronze Laver - Holiness prepares us for presence 

What we see from this first weekend of our study on the tabernacle:

• God wants to be with us
• We must start at the cross
• We must wash ourselves in pure water