The Temple of God

Have we lost our sense of the sacred? Have we forgotten who God is? Do we care who God is? Do we think of God and do we seek to worship Him? The question, have we lost our sense of the sacred, is a question that many have asked over the last few decades because it seems as if the culture is becoming more and more secular. Friedrich Nietzsche actually made this observation with his infamous declaration, God is dead. He wasn't making an ontological or metaphysical claim. He wasn't saying that God ceased to exist. He looked around and he saw that culture no longer cared about God. God seemed to no longer have an impact on how people lived their lives. And so we look around and we ask, do we still have a sense of the sacred? Well, I think there's another way of looking at this issue. It's not as if we've lost our sense of the sacred. What I think we've done is place our worship on things that are unholy. We still have a strong sense of the sacred. What we simply do is we make those things that are unholy and treat them as if they're holy. We worship things that are not worthy of worship. You see, God designed us to be worshipers. That's one of the first truths we have to understand, especially with our message this morning. God designed us to worship. The key question there is who or what we worship. The second thing we're going to see this morning is that God has a specific design for how we worship him. God has a specific design for how we worship him. If you're new with us, we're in the book of Exodus. We finished the Ten Commandments out through Exodus 20, walking through chapter by chapter, even verse by verse, through chapter 20. But as we've been preparing for Easter, I've been taking bigger picture, bigger chunks. Last week, we looked at the priests. How does the priest function in our worship? And then how do they, most importantly, how does the priest point to Jesus Christ, the great high priest? This week, we're going to be looking at the temple, and there are large sections of the text that talk about the temple. We'll just be looking at a few verses here and there to get a picture of the temple. But again, we'll be looking at how Christ fulfills that structure. That design has the temple of God. Our message this morning is this. Draw near to God with confidence in the name of Christ. Draw near to God with confidence in the name of Christ. What's amazing, as we look to the New Testament, is that Christ is who we worship. Christ is how we worship. And this morning, we're going to see Christ is where we worship. Worship is centered around Christ. That's why we sing of him. We pray in his name. That's why we will hear him exalted this morning. Next week is Resurrection Sunday. We will be taking a break from Exodus and we'll be looking at Luke 24. The sermon is modeled, as we have been doing for some time, around the four questions. The second question is not going to get that much attention this morning. What was the temple? What is the rationale or background of the temple? Thirdly, very importantly, how did Christ fulfill the temple? And then fourth, What does this mean for us today? How do we now live in Christ's heightening of what the temple meant? And I'm going to use the words temple and tabernacle interchangeably. I've already caught myself doing it. The tabernacle was that tent that could be moved. The temple was a structure built in a particular location, both used and designed by God for his glory. So what was the tabernacle? That's actually what we're looking at in Exodus. The tabernacle was built. A simple definition of the tabernacle, a place of worship designed by God and built by man. The worship focused on the sacrifices of man for his forgiveness. I have a few facts to walk through as we look at what the tabernacle was. First, you can see there's an Exodus 25 and you can turn there, it's on page 65 if you're using a pew Bible. If you don't have the Bible with you, please feel free to take this with you and use it now. That's on page 65, chapter 25. The first thing we're going to see, the tabernacle was built by the people's sacrifices and by their own gifts. Verse one, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they take for me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him. You shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them. Gold, silver and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen goats hair. tan ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod, and for the breast piece." Now, if we remember the end of the exile, the redemption, the deliverance from Egypt, the Israelites, they got to plunder the Egyptians. All of these expensive riches, these are things that God gave them in the midst of the deliverance. They had nothing. They were slaves in Egypt. These are all items that they would have plundered from the Egyptians. Something else we need to realize about these gifts, these riches that they're going to use for the tabernacle. In the midst of God giving them instructions for how they're to use the riches that they receive from Egypt by God's hand, They give these things up for the worship of Baal. While Moses is still on Mount Sinai getting instructions for how they're supposed to give these jewels, these riches for the worship of God, they start throwing them into the fire and out jumps the calf that they're going to worship. It shows their twisted hearts as Sam's already prayed to begin. They're supposed to be using these things for the worship of God. And they're already being turned to worship another God with the jewels, the riches, the gifts from God that he's provided. The second thing we see from the tabernacle, it reflects the nature of God. It is the most expensive, the most elaborate gifts, the colored and dyed scarlet yarns, the gold, the silver, the bronze. It reflects God. It shows order and design. It shows beauty and glory. The very nature of the tabernacle, it's reflecting the nature of God. It's beautiful, it's glorious, it's orderly. The third thing we see. The tabernacle becomes God's dwelling place. We see this in verse eight. And let them make up, make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. This is the key theme of Exodus. I will be with you. I will be for you. I will be with you. I will be for you. God has been with his people as they were leaving Egypt. He was with them in a cloud of smoke and a fire by night. He has been with them to show them I am the one true God. I am with you. I am your God. You are my people here. There's a specific tabernacle where God is saying I'm going to dwell with you. This is where that dwelling will take place. This most inner sanctuary. Israel got the sanctuary wrong. They got the tabernacle wrong in many ways because they thought it contained and therefore could control God. They didn't realize that this was only holy because God freely chose to make it His dwelling place. His presence makes it holy. It is not the sanctuary that contains or controls Him. The fourth thing we need to know about the tabernacle. It must be built according to God's design. We see this in chapter 25 verse 9. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. It's very clear God is designing how they will worship him. They don't choose what the tabernacle is going to look like. They don't choose on their own will what they think it should look like. God says, you'll worship me the way I instruct you to worship me. Worship is not something that's done flippantly. We want to take care to look to God's word to say, how do you call us to worship? And we worship him with reverence, awe and wonder and love, according to his word. The fifth thing we need to know about the tabernacle. It's the place where God and Israel meet. It's the place where Israel and God meet. Look down there in chapter 25, verse 22. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, that on the ark of the testimony I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandments for the people of Israel. Again, we see here that there's this very special dwelling place. This is where you will meet with me. This is where I will meet with you. God comes down to be with his people, and this is where they can be with him. The sixth thing. It's built by gifted men. We could see this in chapter 31. I won't read the passage. But we can see that God designed men. He actually gave certain specific men gifts and talents to be used for the building. So it's by the very treasures that God has given Israel, then it's the very gifted men that God has blessed Israel with that it will be built. The seventh thing, God made the tabernacle glorious. Turn to chapter 40. That's on page 80 if you're using the pew Bible. Chapter 40. beginning in verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out to the day that it was taken up. for the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys." This tabernacle is glorious even though it has the gold, the silver, the bronze, the dyed yarn. It's glorious because the glory of the Lord dwells in it. That is what makes it glorious. We also see from this this passage. God was with them and guiding them through his presence in the tabernacle. Whenever he would want them to move, the cloud would get up off the tabernacle and direct them and leave them. The tabernacle was the way God guided them and directed them. And then the last thing we see is that the tabernacle is portable. These people are not yet home. The tabernacle is portable. God has called them out of slavery. He's delivered them to be his people. He's now declared them his nation, giving them his rules, his regulations, his law. Now he's going to guide them and direct them into the promised land that he has set aside for them. And before we go, I just want to focus on one or two more things. We can turn to chapter 26. This is going to be very significant later on in the sermon. Chapter 26 verses 31 through 35. And you shall make avail of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen. It shall be made with the chair room skillfully worked into it and you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, and on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasp and bring the ark of the testimony in there, within the veil, and the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy." You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. You shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstone on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side. This veil is extremely important for how we understand the work of Christ. We'll see this later, Lord willing. The veil is what separates everyone except for one man once a year from the most holy place. The immediate presence. of the glory of God. To remind us from something we talked about, we mentioned last week, there are three things we learn from the temple sacrifices, the whole sacrificial system. One, sin is serious. Because of the blood that had to be shed over and over and over again, if we went back and read Exodus 29, as we looked at last week, it's bloody. This whole worship is bloody. It shows us that sin must be taken serious. Our sin is offensive to God. The second thing we need to see is the consequence of sin is death. The consequence of sin is death. That's why the blood is shed, because our sin requires death. The third thing we must see from the sacrifice, the sacrifice is we need someone to die in our place. We need someone to die in our place. Let's go to our second question. What was the rationale of the temple? Well, just as we looked last week and saw that Adam was like a priest in the garden, the garden really was a temple. The garden was the first temple. There, God walked and talked with man. He was with man. His presence was there. They were able to meet face-to-face, Adam and Eve seeing and talking with God. It's also the first place a sacrifice takes place. In the garden, the first sacrifice. As Adam and Eve are ashamed of their sin, God slaughters an innocent animal there in the garden to cover their shame, to cover their sin. We can see that the pattern already set from Genesis 3, Genesis 1 through 3, that the garden was already a temple. We've also already seen where God comes and meets man. That is considered a sacred space. That is a sacred place. The most notable that we've seen on Exodus is the burning bush with Moses. This is holy ground. Take off your shoes. God has been preparing Moses to understand what sacred space is. I think, actually, as we look to Christ and the fulfillment of the temple, we'll see more rationale and background for the temple. How did Christ fulfill the temple? Let's just jump straight to the point. Let's go to Hebrews. Let's go to Hebrews. If you're using the pew Bible, Hebrews 8 and 9 is where we're going to spend a lot of our time. And so that's on page 1005, Hebrews 8 and 9. You can find that on page 1005. I like this. Hebrews is a sermon. The genre seems to be like a sermon, and like a lot of good preachers, he says, now let's just get back to the point. He's gone on a rabbit trail, and he's getting us back to the point. And so here we see one of the main points of Hebrews. Now, the point of what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, and the true tent of the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Thus, it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, we just read this in Exodus 25, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better. since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second." I just want to make two basic observations from this passage. The main point of Hebrews is that Christ is the excellent mediator. He's greater than angels. He's greater than any other prophet because he himself is God's son. He came down from heaven to serve us on earth. He himself, God Almighty, who took upon flesh, he serves as the great high priest. That's what we discussed last week. The first thing I want to notice from this passage is that he's not just a great high priest. He's the great high priest that serves in the true temple. The true holy place of God. That temple, that tabernacle, that was a replica. That was just a shadow of the true temple. It was an earthly sanctuary we'll see in Hebrews 9. The true sanctuary, the true holy place of God, it's in heaven. It's not made by man. What was made by man was simply a replica, a shadow, something that foreshadows the true tabernacle. Christ doesn't serve us as a great high priest here on earth. He serves as a great high priest in heaven at the right hand of the Father. This is the whole basis. This is one of the reasons why his ministry is more excellent. It's where he's serving. It's up in the true tabernacle, in the true presence of God, not in a man-built temple. The second observation, and really just focuses on verse 7, For if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. I mentioned a number of times last week, the priest said it was a broken system. The temple, it also is broken intentionally. It has fault. It's not perfect because it was pointing to the true and perfect design for worship that is only found in Jesus Christ. If we look at this argument, we can see why it's so important for the original recipients. They were Jewish Christians who were being tempted to forsake Christ and go back to temple worship. They're being persecuted. And so the author here is saying, how could you possibly go back to temple worship? How could you go back to a faulty system where you have to have a priest over and over again when you have a great high priest who's made one sacrifice once for all? How could you go back to a temple made with man's tools, with man's hands, when you could be worshiping God in the true temple, in the true sanctuary in heaven? It's important for us. Because we need to recognize that we so often worship the things we should not. We so often seek to find peace in places where there is no peace. We have access to the glory of God. We have access to know him, to delight in him, to see him face to face. We so often get plagued with guilt, get overwhelmed with our burdens or gets too entertained with this world that we do not enter boldly, as the author of Hebrews tells us to do. Let's continue in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. He continues to make a strong contrast between where one worships. Hebrews 9. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness. Here we see God regulates how we worship. He tells us how we are to worship Him. Both covenants, the old and the new, have regulations. For a tent was prepared This first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence, it was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the Covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Well, he's speaking the Hebrews, and so he doesn't feel the need to go into detail about the Hebrew tabernacle. But again, this veil is so important. That separated the holy place and the most holy place. Let's continue to look at verse 6. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section. performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. But by this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy place is not yet open, as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings. Regulations for the body impose until the time of Reformation. There's two main things I want to point out here. The temple worship of the Old Covenant, it gives you limited access to God. One man, once a year, could go into the most holy place. Women and Gentiles, which actually is everyone sitting here, I'm assuming, women or Gentiles, you didn't get to go into the tabernacle. You're far off. You're not just in there. You're not just in the most holy place. You're out. You can't go into the tabernacle. You can't go into the temple. You have no access to God. Priests, they could go into the first place. the holy place regularly, but only one man once a year got to go into the most holy place. This is why Christ and his work is better. He opens up access for all who believe in him to go in boldly and delight in the glory of God. That's amazing. It's what we're used to because we're Christians. We don't have this tabernacle that we see and we we didn't experience over and over again. We can't go in. Friends, the door has been opened and in Christ we can go in and delight in worship in God. The second thing we need to notice, the sacrifice was limited in its efficiency. Its sacrifice was limited in that it had to be done over and over again every year. The sacrifice for sin, according to Hebrews, says it was only for the unintentional sins. It doesn't truly clear the conscience to worship God boldly and fully. And here we're going to keep reading in Hebrews 9. Listen in chapter 11. I'm sorry, chapter 9, verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, this is the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. He entered once for all into the holy place and by means of his, and not by the means of blood and goats and cows, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of devout persons with the ashes of the effort sanctify for the purification of the self, of the flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Here, there's no more sacrifice because the one and only sacrifice we need has been made. Christ, the perfect man, God himself in the flesh, he laid down his life. He's the great high priest that went up into the heavenly tabernacle, gave over his life to God the Father, taking upon himself our sin and the wrath of God it deserved so that we can be purified, so that we can worship. The veil is really the most important part of what we want to think about this morning. That veil that keeps everyone, except for one man, once a year, that veil that kept everyone from entering the most holy place. We actually see a strong emphasis on that veil in the Gospel of Matthew. Turn to page 826 in your Bibles. Matthew 21. Here we see the triumphal entry. We read about this at the beginning. We see the trampling. That's why we're worshiping with the olive branches and the cute children coming out and singing. This marks the day when Christ entered into the city, bringing peace. But what's the first thing he does once he gets into the city? You can look down and see the head of the road. He cleanses the temple. How's that for peace? He goes in and declares this is a den of robbers. It's supposed to be a house. of prayer. We see Matthew already focusing in on the temple and Jesus' desire for the temple to be a true place where people are seeking the face of God. Look over to Matthew 26, verse 61. Caiaphas is a great high priest. He brings a charge against Jesus. This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. They're trying to accuse Jesus before Pontius. They're trying to accuse Jesus to get him killed. And this is the accusation. It's true. Jesus said this. It's in John 2. He continued to prophesy, I will die and I will be risen again. His disciples had a hard time understanding it. He even pointed to the temple and said, the temple of God will be destroyed. It will be built back in three days. And John makes us very aware that Jesus is referring to his body. Turn over to Matthew 27 verses 30, beginning of verse 32. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross, and when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means the place of a school skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots, and they sat down and kept watch over him there. and over his head they put the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you were the son of God, come down from the cross. It's also the chief priest with the scribes, the elders mocked him, saying he saved others. He cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son of God. And the Roberts who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. There's the verse 40. We'll go back to Matthew 26. This was the accusation that was laid at his feet. He's being mocked on the cross. You who say you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, if you're truly that powerful, how can you bring yourself down from the cross? I think what Matthew was doing by recording the accusation and the mockery, it's great irony because that's exactly what Jesus was doing on the cross. The temple was being destroyed. Go to Matthew 27, beginning verse 51. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks were split, the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs, after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place. They were filled with all saying this truly was the son of God. When Christ breathed his last breath, when he died, the veil that keeps everyone except for one man once a year, it was torn in two, showing symbolically the temple, the true temple, Jesus Christ. It has been destroyed. He was crushed for our iniquities. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was torn in two for our sin. You see, that veil, it was there for our protection. That veil was there so that sinners wouldn't rush into the presence of God and be consumed by His holiness. If sinners step into the presence of a holy God, they will be consumed by his glory, his beauty, his holiness. Sinful men cannot be in the presence of God. That's why in the garden God cast them out. It was for their protection. They could not come back in. That veil represents our problem. We cannot come into the presence of God. So Jesus Christ himself, stood there where the veil is and allowed himself to be crushed, to be pierced, to die in our place as if a sinner when he knew no sin. This is the beauty of the gospel. If we were to stand there, we would be crushed. But now if we believe in Jesus Christ, He was crushed for us. He suffered the consequence of our sin so that we get to go straight in and worship God with a clear conscience. We now get to go into the presence of God without our guilt, without our sin, by being declared a son of God and seeing him face to face. Friends, let's not ask the question, how shall we then live? Because worship has been heightened by Jesus Christ. Remember how we asked how Christ heightened all the laws. If anything has been heightened, it's how we now worship. Go back to Hebrews 9. He purifies us from dead works to serve the living God. Go back to Exodus 29. One of the key words that's part of the priest's job description. Serve. We're priests. We now serve God. Everyone who is a believer in Christ, we're now priests who get to go into the presence of God in the name of the great high priest. We're now to serve God in the most holy place. Christ has removed the veil. He's removed our sin. We now follow him. Christ is our worship leader. We shouldn't call anybody else a worship leader because there's only one worship leader. There's only one man who can lead us in worship, and it's Jesus Christ. He takes us straight into the holy presence of God. The first thing we need to realize is that we need to draw near boldly and with confidence to experience, to enjoy, to delight in the presence of God. In order to draw near to the presence of God, we have to first stop drawing near to sin. That's what keeps us from that presence. That's what keeps us from knowing and enjoying and aligning in the presence of God. It's our seeking to delight in sin that distracts us from drawing near to God. The second thing we need to realize is our lives are now being played out in the most holy place of God. Our lives are meant to be played out there as worship in the most holy place of God. Let me let me try to illustrate this. There's a king and he can look out from his castle and he can see all of the town and he sees how people are enjoying themselves. And he happens to see you and your certain talent, whether that be juggling a musical instrument, whatever your talent is. And he's having a great banquet. And he says, I want to invite you into my banquet, into my presence. so that I can delight in your gift, your talent. If you're invited by the king to come in, you're going to practice hard. You're going to make sure you do everything right. You're going to make sure you don't bring shame upon you or your family. What's amazing about us being brought into the holy place of God, God himself, the creator of all, the king of all. He's actually said, I want you to always be in my presence so that I can watch you grow. I want you to always be in my presence so that I can delight in you, my son and my daughter. Are we going into the presence of God and seeking to be in his presence and to enjoy him and have him enjoy our worship? We're called to enter boldly into the immediate personal presence of God. The second application I want us to look at, we need to have confidence in Christ's forgiveness of sins. The more we draw near to God, the more we're going to realize it's our own sin. And the more we're going to hear the accusation, you don't belong here. And at one level, that's true. As sinners, we do not belong in the presence of God. But we always look to Christ, our great high priest, who said, you don't belong here, but I've invited you here. I am your big brother who has died for you, who has brought you here. You're here in the name of Christ, not your own name. We must have confidence to not let our guilt keep us from entering boldly. The third thing I want us to see. We're called to be united as part of our being a temple. Let me just read this passage and you can you can look at it later. First Corinthians three. Do not do you not know that you are God's temple? And God's spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are the temple. You are that temple. A lot of folks have interpreted this to mean you can't commit suicide. That has nothing to do with the context or this verse. He's speaking to the church that's divided. He's speaking to those who are coming in and causing divisions among the body of Christ. Christ is the foundation upon which we each want a living stone is being built up into unity for his worship. Those who divide in the church are the ones that are under the judgment here that Paul is speaking of. Christ is our temple, he is where we worship. He now calls us to be a temple unified and holy, worshiping him together. Let us praise the one who has delivered us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved son. Let's pray. God, you are holy. You are worthy of our praise. It's amazing that you accept our feeble praise in the name of Christ, we thank you. We thank you that you have forgiven us in Christ. We thank you that you draw us near in Christ. We thank you that we can worship you in Christ. We thank you for the new creation you're bringing about in our hearts and through your gospel and through your church. Help us, Lord, to rejoice in your salvation by entering boldly and confidently in Christ to worship you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, amen.