The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle – Life in a HazMat Suit Exodus 26-27; 40:34-38; Hebrews 9 Life in A Tent I have not spent a lot of time in tents, but I have spent two particularly memorable times in tents. The first, my very first time camping in a real tent, my whole family sleeping in a tent. This was several years ago. We are woken up by a very strange noise. Someone is jogging, running circles around our tent. We are in a campground, this could be anyone, so I get up and out to check it out. It was Logan. Sleepily, trotting around the tent. He had gone to the bathroom, come back, and when I stopped him, he said he couldn’t find the entrance. And so his sleepy mind just kept sending him around and around, doing laps, maybe until the entrance would magically appear. So I learned my first rule of tents: Knowing how to get in and out is really important. This past Fall Logan and I went camping with the cub scouts, just the two of us this time, a much smaller tent. In the middle of the second night, Logan tells me his tummy doesn’t feel well, and then gets that look on his face. The look tells me I have about 5 seconds to apply the first rule of tents. I unzip the entrance in record time, get his head out just in time, and there goes dinner. It was that night I learned and repeated over and over to myself, my second rule of tents. Tents are always temporary. The Tabernacle But my tent was a little bitty thing. We turn now, in Exodus, to Chapters 26 and 27 where, in beautiful detail, the Tent of Dwelling is described. The Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a fancy rectangular tent in which God lived symbolically in the presence of His people, at the center of the concentric circles of the Israelite tent. Allow me to describe it to you. First, the outer courtyard. Surrounded by a curtain, 150 feet by 75 feet, the courtyard had a wide, thirty foot entrance: curtained with blue, purple and scarlet weaving. More color than you would see anywhere else in camp. The whole courtyard is just a little longer than our church building, and half-again as wide as this room. And there, the beautifully huge altar for grilling sacrificial meat. A constant flow of people offering their sacrifices (some room on the grill, throw on the next bull or lamb). The priests are the grill-masters, cooking or burning up the offering as appropriate. Whole households, sitting and eating BBQ’ed sacrifices. In this courtyard, at the West End is set the Tabernacle. The whole tent 15-feet wide, 15-feet tall and 45-feet long. The tent opens on its East end to the first room: the Holy Place. 30-foot long, 15-foot wide. A small room, but beautifully lit and furnished. There is a Table, a table fit for a King. Covered in gold, with pitchers and bowls and cups made of gold, bread offered to Yahweh as symbolic food: the bread of the Presence, a continual offering. There is an Altar of Incense, gold and beautiful, so it always smells amazing! Your ordinary dwelling was rarely lit inside, for oil and candles were precious and expensive. The brightest internal light most people would experience was one flickering oil lamp. The tabernacle was lit with seven, and that light reflected and multiplied off the gold lampstand, making the tabernacle the brightest thing in the Israelite encampment apart from the cooking fires. Yahweh was home. Across from the entrance, 30 feet there hangs a curtain separating this room, this Holy Place, from the Inner Room: the Holy of Holies. The veil. A curtain of blue, red and gold, woven with cherubim. And through that veil The most holy symbol of His presence. The Ark of the Covenant, and we went on and on about this 2 weeks ago, because it is beautiful and powerful and amazing. The symbol of God’s holiness, his Presence and His covenant with His people. The Separation And almost no one ever sees it. Ever. The invisible God. Dwelling with His people. But separated, layer upon layer from them. The first rule of tents: you have to know how to get in and out. This tent, almost no one was ever allowed. Through that veil only one man could enter. The High Priest. And only once a year. And only after having been ritually purified, and bearing the blood of the Atonement Sacrifice. The Holy of Holies, only entered by the 1. The first room, the Holy Place, only the priests get to enter, still ritually purified before they do. The people on the outside… they don’t get to see the beauty and splendor of the inside. One worshipped at Yahweh’s house, but not in Yahweh’s house. God is moving in. But He is separated from His people. This is the Tabernacle. It is the dwelling place of God with His people, but it is also a symbol of separation, of protecting them from His Holiness, of restricting access. There is even a second layer of goat-hair curtains over the outside of the Tabernacle to protect the beautiful inner curtains, preserving their beauty, but also further shielding the tabernacle from the casual glance. Another layer. Then God’s people are allowed in to that outermost courtyard when they are worshipping and bringing a sacrifice, but only then, and the rest of the time they are outside of yet another layer, yet another curtain. God has moved in, but He is separated from His people. The Longing Worshipper Put yourself in the sandals of an Israelite of the time. Born in the wanderings with the Tabernacle. Always at the center of camp, all life revolving around this Yahweh and His tent among His. His dwelling, that is what Tabernacle means. His portable sanctuary. And you have heard that it is beautiful… and by faith you believe. The outer tents are beautiful. You have heard that everything within is layered and gold, and by faith you believe… there is some gold outside, some bronze. At night you can see the light seeping out of the Tabernacle, flashing out as a priest enters or leaves. Maybe even occasionally catching a glimpse of that first room, the Holy Place. But, oh, what curiosity. What wondering. What would it be like to really enter the presence of God? What would it be like to see that Ark of the Covenant? What would it be like to enter the shekinah glory? All through the desert wanderings, 40 years of wandering. The Tabernacle in the middle of camp. The dwelling of Yahweh… but also a layered mystery. A shrouding. A separation. All through the conquering of the land of Israel at Gilgah. A generation. And for 300 years residing in Shiloh. People would travel for miles, walking for days, to bring their sacrifices and to worship at the Tabernacle, still the only official center of worship for the Israelite people. And those faithful, traveling all that way, to be stopped on God’s front lawn. You can celebrate, you can worship, you can sacrifice at the Tabernacle… but only in the front yard. God has moved in. But He is Separated. Saul moves the Tabernacle, loses the Ark, David moves the Ark into a different tent, and finally the Ark is subsumed into Solomon’s temple. And the pattern stays the same, as commanded by God himself. God is dwelling with, but veiled from His people. The Longing God There is another side to this story. I can only imagine the emotion and thoughts here by analogy… but the actions speak pretty loudly. Imagine God, a Being, a Person, absolutely in love with His people. They are perfectly Created for love, for relationship, for friendship, walking together in a Garden. And God is a consuming fire, but they are Created Fireproof. God is Radioactive Righteousness. They wear HazMat Radiation Protection Suits of Innocence. But a choice, a betrayal, a mistake, a sin destroys their innocence, tears that suit wide open, effectively killing them. And now God has a problem. He still loves His people. But to approach them as He once had, to walk with them, would consume them. And so begins the Rescue Mission. Every interaction from then on is veiled. It is partial. It is quick. It is symbolic. It is hidden. And God moves in with His people. Yahweh dwells with His people. But He is separated from His people. God can see all things, and He is all places, but see where He has placed himself symbolically. He is standing atop the Ark of the Covenant. Alone. Veiled from His people, within layers and layers. Smelling the sacrifices and the incense, hearing their prayers, but symbolically isolated from them, as if to protect them from His holiness. The veil. Always the veil. Always the separation from His beloved people. For millennium. But always working towards something. God knows the first rule of tents: know how to get in and out. More importantly, God knows the second rule of tents. Tents are always temporary. Tents are always temporary. God is moving in. Tearing of the Veil Now, imagine, not just the triumph, but the glee. Matthew 27:50-53 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. I picture Jesus, entering in heaven, there is some profound spiritual reality that the Tabernacle hints at, it represents it, this metaphysical, spiritual separation, and having accomplished His mission, His sacrifice, with His own blood now He approaches that veil, not just the actual temple veil but some heavenly reality behind it. And he Tears it, top to bottom. The drama of it. The “Oh, FINALLY!” The veil is gone. The tent was only temporary. The veil is torn, the entrance is open to the Holy of Holies. The New Tabernacle I’m not making this up, either, this is what Hebrews 9 and 10 is all about. Hebrews 9:11-12; 24 11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. … 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. The tabernacle is a symbol, a powerful one. It symbolizes God’s dwelling with His people. But throughout the Tabernacle, layers upon layers, and most powerfully in the veil of separation between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle reveals a profound and necessary spiritual reality, the “more perfect tabernacle (dwelling of God) not made with human hands.” And in that real Tabernacle, which the one in Exodus shadowed, it echoed, there was also a veil there. So that now, God is dwelling with His people, and the veil of separation is torn. Application – Drawing Near Some of this is familiar language. Certainly it is beautiful language. “The veil is torn, top to bottom, by the Hand of God, by the Blood Sacrifice of Jesus! And now with Jesus, in Jesus, through Jesus we can enter the Holy of Holies, the Intimate Presence of the Holy God.” It is stirring and it is beautiful, and there is that within me, and maybe within you, that just responds to it. As if, as I believe it is, the purpose for which I was made, the Path to Victory, a desperately needed Salvation, and an Epic Love Story. But what do I do with this… besides just believe it? I do believe it. How then shall I live? How do I live in light of the “torn veil?” How does that change life for me? What does that look like? The writer of Hebrews draws a conclusion, and it paints a picture of the Christian life, a Posture of Christian life that I can understand, that I resonate with. It has been on my mind, it keeps coming up, in fact I ended a sermon 2 months ago here. Having, all of chapter 9, described the fulfillment of the Tabernacle, the fulfillment of sacrifices through Jesus, exploring this idea of entering the Holy Place through Jesus. In Chapter 10 he speaks of the new covenant, written on our hearts, being written on our hearts. He concludes this section with these words. Hebrews 10:19-25 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. This is a gold mine, and every time I read it, I feel like I just barely get it. We have the “new and living way opened for us through the curtain.” Past all the layers of the Tabernacle. Because of that, therefore, because of what Jesus did… Let us draw near Or, as the message translates verse 22: “So let’s do it.” The way is open… let us draw near. We are going to return to these verses, because I just can’t seem to shake them, like God is speaking to me through them, maybe to you to. There is a picture here. An image. There is a beautiful promise, a frustrating reality, and a practical strategy here. The Beautiful Promise Here is the beautiful promise: we can draw near in confidence. We can proceed towards God, we are invited into the Tent of dwelling. We can draw near. And we do, we grow in our relationship with God, in our intimacy with Him. And we discover in moments and glimpses and foretastes the beauty and wonder of His Holiness, the depth and breadth of His love, fellowship with Him, life with Him. This is the beautiful promise: we can draw near with Confidence. And immediately after that in Hebrews come this frustrating reality: even with all the beauty and truth of what I just said, there is still a sense in which we are separated from God. We don’t see Him, we don’t know Him fully, we don’t always experience His presence, we don’t always “get it”. Maybe, for some of us, we don’t often get it. Or ever get it. There is a “not-yet” to all of this. The veil is torn, but we are awaiting some next step. In the words of Hebrews we are “holding unswervingly to the hope we profess.” And this is the sure hope, the eager expectation and anticipation of Jesus’ return, of Resurrection, of new heaven and new earth and this time that spiritual Tabernacle, that real dwelling place of God, what we call “heaven” takes up its fullest and permanent place on earth, and the Curtain is wide open, and we see God. We hold on to hope because we aren’t quite there yet, we live in anticipation and we get these foretastes and glimpses and sneak previews of that Life with God. And finally, what do we do in the meantime? How do we live in between this beautiful promise of drawing near to God with confidence, along with this frustrating reality of awaiting His return. What do we do? Well, we as His people, who are being built together into His temple (or His tabernacle), we “consider together” how to live Kingdom lives, lives full of love and good deeds, lives that reflect His life and presence in us, we “consider together” how to spur one another on. I love the Message translation here: Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. This is the picture of Christian Living, a posture of Christian Life here on earth. Our eyes are on the goal, the eager expectation of Jesus’ return. And every day, step by step, we are drawing nearer, pressing in to the Presence of God. For even now, the veil is torn. And we do this together. Creatively, inventively, encouraging each other, spurring each other each step. This is what we are. This is what church is. We don’t give up meeting together, because we are doing something together. Pressing into the Presence of God. And in that Day, when the heavenly Tabernacle descends onto a New Earth, we are going to have the most epic Kingdom Victory Day.