We thank God that He has brought us all together before Him.
This morning, we are going to share about the vision of Moses. Last time, we shared the first vision: Moses saw the burning bush. Because of time constraints, we cannot review it now.
This morning, we will share the second vision that Moses saw. Through the burning bush, God commissioned Moses to go to Egypt and save the Israelites.
We saw how God used Moses through many miracles. Eventually, He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, led them through the Red Sea and the wilderness, and brought them to Mount Sinai.
When God revealed Himself to Moses, He said, in effect, “I am sending you to Egypt. I will save the Israelites so that they may come to this mountain, God’s mountain, to serve Me.”
God fulfilled His word. He brought the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai. There He declared His will and His salvation for them.
Many times, we are saved by God, but we still do not know why God has saved us. Yet God has a most beautiful will for His people.
When the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, God told them why He had brought them out of Egypt. In Exodus 19, He said that He had carried them as an eagle carries her young under her wings.
He told them that if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant, He would separate them from among the nations. They would become His own possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation consecrated to Himself.
This is what God showed them. He gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites.
We all know that God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel. They were written upon two tablets of stone.
Very likely, the first tablet contained the first four commandments, and the second tablet contained the remaining six commandments. The first tablet declares God’s own name and character.
You shall have no other gods before Him. You shall not make an image. You shall not bow down to such images, because God is Spirit and has no visible form. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
These commandments reveal the relationship that God desires to have with Israel. He is a holy God. Holiness means that He is wholly set apart and cannot be compared with anything else.
Therefore, we must serve Him in holiness. We cannot have other gods, create idols, or use His name in vain. Because we belong to a holy God, we also must be holy.
The last six commandments reveal that God is righteous. Because He is righteous, we must maintain righteousness in our relationships with other people.
Thus, the Ten Commandments separated Israel from all the nations of the world. God set them apart to be His special people.
When we think of Mount Sinai, we usually think of the Ten Commandments. Of course, the Ten Commandments are very important, because through them the Israelites were separated unto God.
But besides the Ten Commandments, God revealed something else to Moses that is also very important. He said, “You have to make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among you.”
You see, the Ten Commandments were only a preparation. They prepared God’s people to be in the proper condition so that God could dwell among them.
This is God’s heart. When we read the Bible, we see that God’s heart in creating mankind was to dwell among people.
Why did God create people in this world? Why did He create us in His own image? God has a heart: He wants to dwell among people.
This was God’s thought before creation. According to this thought, He created mankind in His own image so that one day He could dwell among people, and people could live with Him.
He wants people to be His home, and He wants to make His home among His people. This is the most glorious will of God.
Sometimes I say it this way: God created heaven and earth. Heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool. Heaven and earth are like His place of work, but God’s home is in the midst of His people.
He wants to take His Sabbath among His people. He wants to rest among them. This completely satisfies God’s heart.
This is the highest goal of God. He wanted to say to the Israelites, “My salvation for you has this goal: that I may live among you.”
But God is holy, while people are dirty and unclean. How can God live among His people? The way is through the tabernacle.
Through the tabernacle, God could live among them, and they could become a priestly nation to serve Him.
The Ten Commandments occupy only a few chapters in Exodus. Yet when God revealed the tabernacle, He devoted many chapters to it, from Exodus 25 onward.
This shows us the importance of the tabernacle. The Ten Commandments were a preparation; the goal was the tabernacle.
Concerning the revelation of the tabernacle, I want to say something to the young people.
I remember when I was thirteen years old. The Holy Spirit moved within me and caused me to see that I was truly a sinner.
Before that, I thought, “What sin do I have?” In school, I was a good student. I was good with teachers, students, and even the workers. I thought I did not have much sin.
Even though I was born in a Christian family and my father was a pastor, I thought I was all right. From childhood, I grew up in Sunday school and knew many Bible stories.
I knew that Jesus was the Savior, but I thought He needed to save others, not me.
But thank God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, I truly realized how great and deep my sin was. From my head to my feet, there was nothing complete.
I longed for God’s salvation. Sometimes, when I was alone, I would cry. I felt that I had no future, because the wages of sin is death, and I was afraid.
When I saw a coffin passing by, I would think, “If I die, I have no future.”
But thank God, when I was fifteen years old, I attended a summer retreat. God’s grace came upon me.
There were morning and afternoon sessions, and there was more than one speaker. During one of those meetings, a brother spoke about the tabernacle.
What he said was difficult for me to understand. In fact, I did not understand much at all. He was speaking about the tabernacle, and it was beyond me.
When we come to the book of Exodus and read about the tabernacle, many of us may simply pass over it. We say, “I do not understand this.”
But as time passed, I can testify before the brothers and sisters that the tabernacle became more and more precious to me. I began to see that the revelation on the mountain is truly a great revelation.
God showed me many precious things through this revelation, that we might receive grace before Him. I hope that young people can persevere. Perhaps you do not yet find much taste in what I am saying, but one day you may see its preciousness.
At that time, God gave the pattern of the tabernacle to Moses on the mountain. When He gave Moses the instructions, He continually warned him to build everything according to the pattern shown to him.
Not only the structure was revealed to Moses. The materials were revealed, the length and breadth were revealed, and even the colors were revealed.
In other words, the entire tabernacle had to be made according to the pattern God showed Moses on the mountain.
Yesterday we said that Moses had learned all the knowledge of Egypt. Egypt was famous for its architectural knowledge. Even today, people marvel at the pyramids.
In ancient times, without the equipment that we have today, how could they take such great stones and build pyramids? There is even an opening in a pyramid that, according to astronomers, was directed toward the North Star.
Moses had learned all the knowledge of Egypt. Since he had been raised in Pharaoh’s palace, he could have thought, “This is easy. I can design it myself in a way that will satisfy God.”
But thank God, God did not permit Moses to use his own wisdom or to build according to his own will. God revealed everything to him and said, “You shall make it according to the pattern on the mountain.”
Moses was called a faithful servant of God. What was his faithfulness? His faithfulness was that he followed God’s word completely.
He did not add anything, he did not subtract anything, and he did not change anything. Even in the smallest matter, he followed God’s word.
Because Moses was faithful, God’s glory filled the tabernacle, and God dwelt among the Israelites.
When we read the book of Hebrews, we are told that the tabernacle was a representation and shadow. The reality behind that shadow is our Lord Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle on earth was patterned after heavenly things. The heavenly reality is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, God would not allow His people to change the pattern. The tabernacle represents Christ, and we cannot have our own concept of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything must be based on God’s revelation. We cannot add anything to it or change it to accommodate our own will.
Today, many people do not follow God’s revelation in receiving the glorious Christ. They form Christ according to their own ideas rather than according to God’s revelation.
This is not acceptable. Even though the tabernacle was a shadow, the shadow was completely connected with the reality. Therefore, nothing could be changed.
God repeatedly told Moses, “You must make everything according to the pattern shown on the mountain.”
Thank God, when Moses built the tabernacle, he followed the pattern on the mountain in everything. This is something to which we must pay attention.
The tabernacle not only enables us to see Christ; it also enables us to see the church. The church is God’s dwelling place.
Therefore, we cannot change the church according to our own ideas. We cannot treat the church lightly or play with the church. We must follow the pattern shown on the mountain.
We also see in the tabernacle the pathway between man and God. This pathway is what God commanded, and it is the only way.
You cannot change it. If you change it, you will not arrive. There is no bypass, no alternative route. You must follow what God has commanded in order to come before God.
Dear brothers and sisters, we must have a reverent and fearful heart concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is an idol? An idol is something that you think of and create according to your own imagination. But God is a God of revelation.
Therefore, when we worship God, we cannot create our own ideas of Him. We must completely accept the revelation of the Bible.
Likewise, concerning the church today, we cannot build the church according to our own will. We must follow the pattern on the mountain.
The pathway to God is also fixed. We cannot find another way. People say that all roads lead to Rome, but when it comes to God, there is only one way: the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we are going to share about the tabernacle itself.
When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle, God told him to make ten curtains. These curtains formed the tabernacle.
They were to be made of fine linen, blue, purple, and scarlet material, with cherubim skillfully woven into them.
This description tells us that the curtain was beautiful.
Fine linen in the Bible speaks of holiness and righteousness. It is white and fine. It represents the life of Christ on earth.
The whole life of our Lord Jesus on earth was like fine linen. He was absolutely pure.
John 1:14 tells us:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.
The original language carries the thought that He “tabernacled” among us. When the Word became flesh and came to earth as a man, He was like the tabernacle of God among people.
When our Lord was on earth, He was the dwelling place of God. He could say, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” He was one with the Father.
At that time, there was a temple in Jerusalem. The Israelites had returned from Babylon and rebuilt the temple. They went there to offer sacrifices and to pray.
Yet in the second temple, the most holy place had no ark, no mercy seat, and no visible glory of God. Outwardly, there was a temple, but inwardly it was empty.
But when our Lord came to earth, He was the true tabernacle. God dwelt in Him.
The tabernacle was made with fine linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. These colors reveal the person of Christ.
Blue speaks of heaven. Although the Lord Jesus was a man on earth, He belonged to heaven. He brought the atmosphere of heaven to earth.
Purple speaks of royalty and abundance. Our Lord is the true King.
Scarlet speaks of His precious character and His work of redemption. Though He was humble as a man, according to His nature and character He was exceedingly precious.
The cherubim were also woven into the curtains. Cherubim are connected with the glory of God and with God’s original purpose.
After man sinned, cherubim guarded the way to the tree of life. This shows us that although man fell, God’s will did not change.
One day, God will recover people to His original purpose in creation.
When our Lord was on earth, in the whole universe and throughout the history of mankind, He was the only person who lived completely according to the will of the Creator.
Therefore, heaven opened and the Father declared:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Even though our Lord lived only thirty-three and a half years on earth, His person was complete.
The ten curtains were joined together as one. They were connected with loops of blue and clasps of gold. Gold represents the divine nature of God.
This shows that, although our Lord became a man, His divine character was glorious. The tabernacle was truly beautiful.
On top of the beautiful linen curtains were further coverings: goat’s hair, ram skins dyed red, and an outer covering of skins.
The goat’s-hair covering speaks of Christ’s humility and His suffering. We know that our Lord was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and He did not open His mouth.
I once went to New Zealand. There are many more sheep there than people. As the airplane was landing, I saw white sheep everywhere.
One time, I watched sheep being shorn. They used electric shears to cut the wool. Even when the sheep’s ear was accidentally cut, the sheep made no sound. It only moved a little.
This reminded me of our Lord Jesus. While He was on earth, people mistreated Him and afflicted Him, yet He made no complaint. As a person, He was so humble.
The ram skins dyed red speak of His consecration and sacrifice. Scripture says:
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.
He was cursed because of us. He bore what we deserved.
The outer covering of skins was dark and unattractive. It protected the tabernacle from the outside.
When we put all these coverings together, we see a picture. Inwardly, Christ is altogether beautiful; outwardly, He had no attractive appearance.
Isaiah 53 tells us:
For He grew up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of a dry ground:
He hath no form nor comeliness;
And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
This is our Lord Jesus. Inwardly, He is altogether beautiful, but outwardly He was despised and rejected by men.
Yet because of us, He willingly came to this earth. He willingly sacrificed His life and shed His precious blood to save unworthy people like us.
Thank God. Praise God.
Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot have our own concept. We should completely accept what the Bible tells us.
The Bible reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout our whole life, we cannot exhaust the fullness of who He is. His holiness and His glory are so great.
For more than two thousand years, believers have studied the Bible, yet there are still many mysteries that we do not understand. God is greater than what He has revealed to us.
There are many things in God Himself that we do not understand. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us believe, worship, and serve Him.
The tabernacle not only represents Christ; it also represents the church.
The Bible tells us that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in their midst.
Our Lord died on the cross, was buried for three days, and rose again on the third day. After forty days, He ascended into heaven.
On the day of Pentecost, one hundred and twenty saints were gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, praying with one accord.
The Holy Spirit came, and they became one body. The believers were joined together as one mysterious body.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He had a physical body. In that body, He lived on earth, testified of God, and completed God’s work.
Now our Lord is in heaven, but He also has a spiritual body on earth. This spiritual body consists of you and me, all those who have been saved.
Through the Holy Spirit, we have become one body. The Lord Jesus lives in this body and continues to speak and to work through it.
That is the book of Acts. Acts has not ended.
When you read the book of Acts, it does not conclude in the ordinary way. Paul lived in Rome for two years, proclaiming the kingdom of God, but the account continues.
Why? Because Acts is still being written today. We are still in the book of Acts. The Lord continues to speak and to work through His body.
This is the church. The church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
My time is up, but I will briefly mention the third point.
The third point is that the tabernacle shows us the only way to God.
John 14:6 tells us:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life:
no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
If we want to come to God, the only way is through Jesus Christ.
All the furnishings in the tabernacle reveal different aspects of Christ. Christ is the content of the church.
He is the altar of sacrifice. He is the laver. He is our food, and through His life we can live. He is our lampstand and our light. He gives us power so that we may serve Him.
He is also the golden altar of incense. Through Him, we are led to pray and worship God.
In the holy place, the priests had fellowship with God. In the most holy place, God was present. Christ is the mercy seat, and He is the glory.
Today, because of Christ, we can be connected with God.
Hebrews 10 tells us that because of His precious blood, we can enter boldly into the holy place. He has opened for us a new and living way through the veil—that is, His flesh.
Therefore, we can come before God. We can worship God, encourage one another in love, and encourage one another to do good works.
Lord, we thank and praise You.
Not only did You show the pattern on the mountain to Moses; through the Holy Spirit today, You reveal Your Son to us.
We are willing to see Your Son. We want to see His preciousness so that our hearts may be surrendered to Him.
We also thank and praise You that You let us see Your church as the body of Christ, that we may practice the church life and not be careless.
Let us see the way that connects us to You, that we may walk the holy path and be connected to Your Son.
We thank and praise You for so much grace. Glorify Your people.
In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.