Speak now in the ears of the people, that they ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.
And the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.
And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
And the Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass;
And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair;
And rams’ skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood;
Oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense;
Onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
According to all that I show thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture thereof, even so shall ye make it.
And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying,
Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, the Lord’s offering.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought the Lord’s offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the service thereof, and for the holy garments.
And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and girdles, all jewels of gold; even every man that offered an offering of gold unto the Lord.
And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and rams’ skins dyed red, and sealskins, brought them.
Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord’s offering: and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it.
And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.
And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair.
And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate;
And the spice, and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
The children of Israel brought a freewill offering unto the Lord; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him freewill offerings every morning.
And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought;
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.
And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Our Father, we do commit Thy word into Thy hands and ask Thee to bless it and give to us, we pray, that as Thy word is broken, we may be given understanding. And we pray that Thy Holy Spirit will complete Thine own work to Thine own glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
I believe we are all familiar with the story of redemption as given in the second book of Moses: how God delivered the children of Israel, who were slaves in Egypt; how God delivered them out of death, out of Egypt, and led them unto Himself until He was able to dwell among them in the tent of meeting.
Now, this is the story of redemption. But it is not my intention to share with you the whole story of redemption. I feel in my spirit to share with you just one facet in that story of redemption. It is a wonderful thing in the work of redemption, and something that we ought to know.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, we must remember their condition. They had been slaves for a long time, and as slaves they were nothing. Even their lives belonged to Pharaoh. They were destitute.
God delivered them out of Egypt. God not only saved their lives, but before they left Egypt, God told Moses to tell the people to ask every one of his and her neighbor for gold, silver, and clothing.
When the time came for them to march out of Egypt, they did not march out as a poor people, as a people with nothing. They marched out with gold, silver, and clothing—to such an extent that they spoiled Egypt. Now remember, Egypt was the richest country in the world at that time.
When God delivered them out of Egypt, they came out with all the riches of Egypt. Not only were the people redeemed, but all these things were redeemed together with the people.
Now, humanly speaking, we may say, “Certainly, God will not do anything unjust. He is a just God. How could God tell His people to ask the Egyptians for gold, silver, and clothing, and spoil them of everything?” From the human standpoint, that would appear unjust.
But not so. From the human standpoint, the riches of Egypt belonged to the Hebrews. Why? Because they labored as slaves for years. They made Egypt rich. So, being a just God, God caused the Egyptians to repay the Hebrews.
But this is only the human standpoint. Is it God’s will to make us rich? Is it God’s will that redeemed people should be very rich? We know riches can be a great snare. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evils. And God said that we cannot serve two masters: God and mammon.
God does not want to make us rich in order that we may fall into a snare. But here you find that God spoiled the Egyptians for the Israelites. Is it for their sake? Is it just a matter of human righteousness and justice? Is there anything more involved when God commanded the children of Israel to do such a thing?
In other words, God gave these riches to His redeemed people. Why?
We do not know until they came to Mount Sinai. There at Mount Sinai, God gave them the law. God made them a people covenanted to Him.
It was at that time that God said, “Make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.”
Now, you know, when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He did not lay down any conditions. That is to say, He did not say, “Now you must do this and this and this and that for Me; then I will deliver you out of Egypt.” Not at all.
God delivered them out of Egypt. It was a matter of pure grace. How can you define grace? They were not redeemed because they were better people. They were not redeemed because they did something good. They were not redeemed because they fulfilled certain conditions for God. They were not redeemed because they earned it. Not at all.
They were redeemed without any condition. God did it all for them. It was pure grace.
But in Exodus 13, after they were delivered, the first thing God told them was, “Set apart the firstborn for Me, because the firstborn belong to Me.”
Now, why is that? God did not make that requirement before the firstborn were delivered. God had delivered all the firstborn of the children of Israel without saying anything. It was grace.
But after they were delivered, God said, “Hallow all the firstborn for Me, because they belong to Me.”
In other words, God gave grace, and when grace was received, there ought to be a response to God in love.
Why should all the firstborn be hallowed, be set apart for God? Because the grace of God had come upon them. The natural consequence of the grace of God was lovingly to offer themselves to God as a heave offering.
The same thing was true with the gold, silver, and clothing. God gave them the gold, silver, and clothing without any condition. God just gave these things to them.
But after God had led them to Mount Sinai and made them a covenant people with Him, then God said, “I have a need.”
“Make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among you.”
Here, brothers and sisters, in the beginning it is always our need. We never think of God’s need. And God condescends Himself to meet our needs.
God does not say, “Now you have to do something for Me first.” No, God just condescends Himself and meets our needs. But after our needs are met, and we become God’s people, God’s covenant people, then God begins to share with us that He, too, has a need.
And what is His need? He wants to dwell among His people. In order to dwell among His people, He wants His people to make Him a sanctuary.
God, Who made the heavens and the earth, can make a sanctuary for Himself. Isn’t this strange? If God could dwell in a tent, surely He could make it right away. But He would not.
He could make the heavens and earth, but He could not make for Himself a tent in which He could dwell among His people, because that tent had to be made by His people. It had to be a love offering.
God gave grace. But after we have received the grace of God, God wants us to bring back to Him an offering in love. And with that offering of love, a sanctuary could be built.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, of course we know that today God does not dwell in earthly sanctuaries. There is no place that we can call a sanctuary in which God really dwells now.
In Old Testament times, it was a matter of types; therefore, it was physical. When it comes to our time, it is a matter of spiritual reality. God does not deal with physical types anymore. God deals with spiritual reality now.
And in spiritual reality, where is His sanctuary? His sanctuary is not in a physical building. It is in His people.
We no longer worship in Jerusalem in the temple, nor do we worship on Mount Gerizim. For today, we worship God in spirit and in truth. God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. It is a spiritual reality, not a physical type anymore.
So we are not talking about building God a physical house as a sanctuary for Him to dwell in. Not at all. That is the Old Testament.
But what we want to share together is a spiritual principle. The spiritual principle is that God has a need. Do not think that our God does not have any need. He does, especially in this matter of dwelling among His people.
He wants to have a permanent home. God does not have a home. He wants to have a home, and He wants to be at home with His own people.
But this home has to be made by His grace, with the love of His people.
There is something that even the grace of God alone cannot do. God can give grace, but this grace has to be responded to with love. When these two things meet together, then God’s need is met. Then the house is built.
This is the principle we have to realize. This is not only in the matter of making a building, but you find it in all the work of God—in every service of God, in anything that touches the purpose of God, in anything that is building, real building, in God’s sight.
You find it has to be done according to this principle. First, grace is given. Without grace, there can be nothing done. How can we do anything? Nothing. God does it all. It is grace.
But as grace is given, there ought to be love—love as a response to that grace, love as an expression of grace received, of grace appreciated.
Now remember that love: we do not have that love. Even that love is grace. It is grace that draws out from us love, that creates in us love. When we express our love, we are only giving to Him a little bit of that which He has given to us.
God spoiled the Egyptians for the Hebrews, not just so that they could enjoy their riches. God had a purpose for His redeemed people to fulfill: to make Him a sanctuary, that He might dwell among them. And that sanctuary was to be made of gold, silver, and clothing.
Satan knew that. In the beginning, Satan tried to make God’s people poor in Egypt. They did not have anything. Not only were they poor, but they had no liberty and no freedom. They were slaves.
So they could not do anything for God; they could only do everything for Pharaoh. That is what Satan does to the people of this world. He tries to deprive God of everything—not only the riches, but the people.
But thank God, God overcame Satan. God delivered His people out of Egypt. Satan could not hold God’s people.
You remember how Pharaoh tried to hold them back. “If you are to worship God, worship God here.” Then he tried, “All right, let your men go, but let the women and children remain here.” Then, “All right, your people can go, but your herds and flocks remain here.”
And Moses said, “No, no, no. If we want to worship God, we have to go. Our children have to go. Our women have to go. Our herds and flocks have to go, because we do not know what God will require. We have to prepare, but everything must go to serve God.”
Satan could not even hold back the gold, silver, and clothing. God spoiled the Egyptians of everything. God redeemed all these things out.
But what is the purpose of redemption? That you may enjoy heaven? No. That you may serve Him and serve His purpose. His purpose is that He may dwell among His people, that a permanent home may be built. With what? Grace and love.
Oh, but Satan—how he tried. When Moses was on the mount receiving the revelation that God had a need, that God wanted His people to build Him a sanctuary in which He might dwell among them, Satan did something underneath.
Oh, how he enticed the people and said, “Let us make a god. We do not know what happened to Moses. Let us make a god.”
They went to Aaron, and Aaron said, “Everyone who has gold, give it to me.” And he used the gold to make a golden calf, and worshiped that golden calf.
The gold belonged to God. God spoiled the Egyptians of the gold for His people, that His people might use the gold to build Him a sanctuary. Yet Satan succeeded in robbing the gold.
How many earrings, how many bracelets, how many nose rings, how many of these things were melted and made into a golden calf?
Instead of this gold being redeemed to serve God, this gold became a god to the redeemed people. That is idolatry.
Brothers and sisters, you do not know all the depths into which God’s people have fallen. And this is not only true with the Israelites. Think of ourselves.
How often, instead of seeing that the gold is redeemed for a purpose, that God may use it to glorify Himself and fulfill His purpose, we turn and make it a golden calf—as if this is our god. We depend on it. We depend on that.
You know why they made a golden calf? A calf gave them milk; it sustained them. In other words, they tried to find their sustenance by depending upon gold instead of upon the God Who gave the gold.
Moses came down. You remember the story. The two tables of the law were broken, and Moses ground that calf into powder, scattered it on the water, and asked the people to drink it. They drank their own sin.
But what a waste. Lots of gold was wasted—was wasted.
But thank God, when God brought His people out, God gave them more than abundance. Even though a lot of gold was wasted, they still had gold enough. Now, isn’t that marvelous?
For after they repented and after God forgave them, God gave them a second chance. God gives them a second chance. Now that is grace again: a second chance.
In Exodus 35, you find that God commanded Moses to tell the people to bring a heave offering to Him. Now, what is a heave offering? A heave offering is the same as a wave offering. It is something that you lift up, wave before God. In other words, it is a love offering.
It is not something compulsory. It is not something regulated by law. It is something that you offer with whatever God has given you. And it must be offered with a willing heart and as prompted by the spirit.
Now, that is a heave offering. It is a love offering. Whenever a person is prompted in his spirit—in other words, whenever a person is moved, constrained by love—and he does it willingly and cheerfully, now that is a heave offering.
And God said, “Take it.” How majestic is our God! He never begs anyone. He has everything. He has no need of us. But He gives us a privilege. He gives us a privilege to express our love to Him.
Therefore He said, “Only with a willing heart and prompted by the spirit, take it.” In other words, if it is not voluntary, do not take it. Whoever is moved, whoever has a willing heart—not of what he does not have, but of what God has given him and what he has—then come and bring these heave offerings.
So the people departed. They all went back to their own tents. Nothing was forced. There was nothing emotional. But here you find that after the people heard this, they all went back to their tents.
And the next morning they came back. All who were prompted in spirit, all who had a willing heart, brought to God what the Lord had given them: gold, silver, clothing.
The women used their hands to spin. The men went out and cut the acacia wood. They did not bring acacia wood out of Egypt; acacia wood was in the wilderness. So if you needed some wood, you went out and cut it and got the acacia wood.
And the chief men, of course, had onyx stones and all these precious stones. They all came as the Lord had given, as they were prompted—men and women. They did all that they could, and they brought the heave offering to God. That is love.
Dear brothers and sisters, you know the principle of giving is love. It is love.
Because the grace of God is so great, you are constrained, and you express your love. That is the principle of giving: not of that which you do not have, but of that which God has given; not by force, but willingly. It is a voluntary offering.
Not by impulse, but after you have considered before God. But, of course, prompted by the Spirit. It is not in the flesh; it is as you are prompted by the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, when anything is offered in that way, it is not the gold, the silver, or the clothing that matters. You remember when the Lord Jesus was on earth. He was standing in the court of the women, where there were offering boxes.
They were like trumpets, you know. People were coming and putting money in them. Probably because the Lord was there, people would lift their money very high and let it drop down, making a loud noise, so that the Lord might know how much they gave.
But the Lord did not say anything. A widow, with fear and trembling, quickly dropped two pennies into it. And the Lord immediately said that she gave more than all the rich people gave.
It is not in the amount. It is in the spirit. It is in love. It is in that willing heart. It is in being prompted by the Spirit.
Oh, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we think, “Well, I have just a little. What can I give?” It is not the amount. It is the heart. It is the heart.
So here you find men and women. They all came and gave. Morning after morning they came and gave.
Until the workers had to come to Moses and tell him, “Stop them, stop them. We have more than enough for all the work.” Moses had to give the word: “Do not bring anything anymore.” And the people were restrained.
Oh, brothers and sisters, when the Spirit of God is moving, we have to be restrained, not constrained. Too much—it is just too much.
And that is the way God works. That is the way love works.
And the result was that the work was done. When the tabernacle was put up, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Was there any doubt that, as they finished the work and put up the tent, they stood by and wondered if the glory of God would take possession? No doubt.
If our work is done in this manner, if the things are offered with love, if everything is done in love, then when it is done, the glory of the Lord fills it right away. There is no delay, no doubt.
God came and took up His abode among His people. The work was done. God’s purpose was fulfilled. That is the glory of redemption.
Dear brothers and sisters, I just want to bring out this principle.
When God has a need—I say, “when,” that is to say, He does not always have a need—but when God has a need, there is no one who can meet that need but His own dear people.
The angels cannot meet that need. Nobody can meet His need. When God has a need, His own redeemed people are the only ones who can meet that need.
Now we must remember this. If we do not meet that need, then God’s purpose will not be fulfilled.
God expects His people to meet His need. And you know, that is a tremendous—I do not have the English word—I can only say it is a tremendous privilege.
Now think of it. We tiny people, nothing, sinners saved by grace, and yet we are the only people in the universe who can meet God’s need. Isn’t that a problem? Does that not break our hearts? Does that not humble our hearts?
But how is that need to be met? By His grace. It is His grace. Remember that. It is not by us. No, it is His grace—His abundant grace.
Even after we have wasted so much of His grace, there is still enough grace for the work to be done.
But in return, there must be love. There must be love. If there is no love, there is nothing.
If the children of Israel could come and just throw some pennies, or even throw gold coins, or throw their nose rings, then those things could be made into a golden calf but not a sanctuary for God.
It has to come out in the working together of grace and love. Grace and love build the house of God, and the glory of God fills the tabernacle.
Brothers and sisters, this is the story of redemption. This is one facet, one aspect, of the story of redemption which is very beautiful and very practical. So I will just leave it with you.
Our Heavenly Father, our hearts are humbled before Thee, thinking that we are called to meet Thy need—not because we have anything. It is Thy grace given, but grace responded to with love.
O Lord, we do desire to respond to Thee with love, that Thou mayest be able to build Thy house for Thy eternal dwelling and for our dwelling too.
We just commit Thy word into Thy hands, and may Thy Holy Spirit prevail. In Thy precious name, amen.