Lord’s Day, Vol. 11 No. 33
The Tabernacle Reared Up (2)
- The Glory of the LORD (Exodus 40:16-35)
The glory of the LORD signifies the presence of God with His people. It was visible during the Exodus in the cloud that covered the tent of the congregation, the Tabernacle itself.
Martyn Lloyd Jones observed well, “And the simple message of the whole Bible is that the world, everything that is opposed to God and trusts in man and in his own power, is all going to be judged and condemned to everlasting misery and destruction. Now you see why Paul glories in the cross. It is the cross alone that saves any one of us from the destruction that is coming to the world. The whole world lies guilty before God, “for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18). The whole world is going to be judged and is going to be destroyed. We are all born in the world and of it. And unless we can be separated from that world, we share the same fate. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I separated from it. How? Let’s make it clear. On that cross, the Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the punishment that is coming to all who belong to the world. That is why He died; He was receiving the punishment of the sins of men.”
We see God’s glory manifested in the Tabernacle, symbolic of Jesus Christ’s atoning work whereby we may escape the wrath to come. It was a pictorial manifestation of how a man can approach God after God delivered them from Egypt, symbolic of the snare of the world in her idolatry and the destruction to come.
It was visibly seen at the inauguration of the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 5:14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
2 Chronicles 7:1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.
2 Chronicles 7:2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.
2 Chronicles 7:3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
It comes with obedience to His revealed will.
- Obedience
Moses followed all the instructions of the Lord in the construction of the Tabernacle and the rearing up of it. The glory of God came mightily to endorse their obedience to the commandments of God. It was salvation for them, a proof of faith, a faith that works. And salvation for the world who will receive their witness as a nation.
Jesus says thrice in John 14, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (v15, 21, 23) and again in John 15, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love … Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (v10, 14).
Andrew Murray said well, “Obedience enables us to abide in His love and gives us the full experience of His unbroken presence. It is the obedient that the word comes, “Lo, I am with you alway” (Matthew 28:20), and to whom all the fullness of its meaning revealed.
More so, when God talked to Moses to reveal Himself to man – Deuteronomy 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
Deuteronomy 5:24 And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.
Exodus 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
It was also the fire that fell from heaven and consumed the offering of Elijah that authenticated the living and true God as Israel’s God. Elijah obeyed and stood with God alone! As Moses obeyed the commandment to build and rear up the Tabernacle, so did the Lord help Elijah. Let us learn the lesson of obedience to the commandments of God so that we too may behold His glory.
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:36-39 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
The cloud was a manifest and visible presence of God. His Word was the manifest presence of His mind.
It communicated His law for mankind as summarized in the Ten Commandments that sets the framework for the right relationships – between God’s relationship with man and also man’s relationship with man. It communicated His Being – that is Himself, by His attributes – merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth.
Exodus 34:4-8 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and, that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
The glory of the LORD is His visible presence carrying out His goodwill defending His servants Moses and Aaron against the men of Korah who challenged God’s will for His people, disrupting the peace in the congregation.
Numbers 16:19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.
Numbers 16:42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
The glory of God is His holiness. He imparted it to the nation of Israel by the construction of the Tabernacle. It stipulated how sinful men can approach a holy God.
Isaiah the prophet well observed this truth – Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
The glory of God finds her fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh and dwelt among men.
The word “dwelt” literally live or camp in a tent or to spread a tent; figuratively in the NT dwell, take up one’s residence, come to reside (among), to tabernacle among men.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Psalm 138:5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.
Psalm 104:31 The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.
The Tabernacle was the visible presence of the work of the Spirit of God moving His servants endowing them with the skill to make a dwelling place for their LORD on earth.
The invisible God, symbolic of the Tabernacle, will lead His people to conquer and possess the Promised Land. Thus, fulfilling the will of God that Israel will be the nation that God created to be a witness to all the nations of the world. He shall lead Israel into battle and give them the victory.
Psalm 24:8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Psalm 24:10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
The LORD led Israel to battle when the priests carrying the ark stepped into the Jordan River, the waters parted and Israel walked on dry ground.
Joshua 3:6-8 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
Joshua 3:9-17 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan. Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
Joshua 4:20-24 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.
Psalm 24:10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
The conquest of Jericho, the first fruit of the conquest, was the manifest presence of the glory of God to do better.
Joshua 6:2-5 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once.
Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
The cross of Christ was the culmination of the glory of the Lord that defeated Satan.
1 Corinthians 1:23-31 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
This was how man is delivered from sin, death and hell. The message of the gospel is dynamite, might to save!
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle. It was to be the visible physical presence of God with His people. In the Holy of Holies, was the ark of the covenant. It was to be the throne of God where He would meet with His people.
It was to be the throne of God where He would meet with His people.
When Israel entered the Promised Land, they would be instructed through David to Solomon for the building of the Temple of God. The nation of Israel is God’s chosen people and this nation is to point the nations of the world to the reality of salvation is her Christ. In the fullness of time, the Saviour named Jesus, Who is the Christ, entered human history through a virgin birth in the womb of Mary, the humble handmaid of Nazareth. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the reality of God’s presence. Jesus will be the sacrifice for sins upon the cross so that sinful man may draw nigh to a Thrice Holy God.
By way of example in the New Testament, the church in Corinth came into existence because souls were saved through repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ as the gospel was preached. The miracle of the new birth was a reality in the lives of the Christians in Corinth. Whereas before, they were in bondage to sin, now, they have been freed from the bondage of sin through Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord indwelling the believer helps him to understand God’s Word, the Bible, to comprehend the glory of God. He is able to come before the very presence of God through Christ in believing prayer, beholding the glory of God by the Spirit of the Lord.
The mercy seat is no longer available only once a year. In Christ, we no longer need an earthly high priest to intercede on our behalf. No longer must a sacrifice be slain for us. The veil is torn away. God bids us to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace in any time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
CONCLUSION
May we accept this invitation and appropriate this privilege. Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee