Message 183
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 35:1-10, 20-35; 36:1-7
In chapters thirty-five through thirty-nine of Exodus we have a record of the making of the tabernacle with its furniture and the garments for the priests.
In Exo. 35:4-9, 20-29 and Exo. 36:3-7 we have the offering of the materials. Exodus 35:4 and 5 say, “And Moses said to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, This is the word which Jehovah has commanded, saying, Take from among you a heave offering to Jehovah; everyone whose heart is willing shall bring it, Jehovah’s heave offering.” Then various materials are mentioned: gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the incense of fragrant spices, and onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate.
In the matter of offering these materials, the people who had been idolatrous now became faithful to God. Formerly they used their gold to make an idol. But now they were faithful and offered everything to God for the building of the tabernacle, His dwelling place. This thought is conveyed in the record in chapter thirty-five regarding the offering of the materials. However, it is somewhat superficial. The emphasis in this message will be on the spiritual significance of the offering of the materials.
The materials offered for the building of the tabernacle typify the Christ experienced by us in different aspects. Although these materials were gained by the children of Israel while they were in Egypt, they are nevertheless called heave offerings, wave offerings, and freewill offerings (35:5, 21-22, 24, 29; 36:3). Some translations do not point out that these offerings were heave offerings, wave offerings, and freewill offerings. Instead, certain versions say only that these offerings were gifts or contributions. The heave offering signifies the ascended Christ; the wave offering, the resurrected Christ; and the freewill offering, the Christ we offer to God of our free will. God does not force us to experience Christ. Whether or not we experience Christ and then offer Him to God is a matter of our free will.
According to the spiritual interpretation, all the offerings here are types of the Christ whom we experience. Sometimes we experience Christ as the reality of God. This is gold. At other times we experience Christ as our Redeemer or as our redemption. This is silver. At other times we may experience Christ as the One judged by God for us, as the Christ who takes our place in judgment, as the One who is our Substitute to suffer God’s judgment for us. This is bronze. All these are different aspects of the Christ experienced by us.
For the building of the church, God’s dwelling place, we all need to experience Christ. If we do not experience Christ, we shall not have anything to offer to God as a heave offering, wave offering, or freewill offering for the building up of His dwelling place. Suppose some of the Israelites were empty-handed, having nothing to offer to the Lord for the building of the tabernacle. They may have said, “Moses has spoken to us concerning offerings for the building of the tabernacle. But we are pitiful and have nothing to offer.” What a shame that would have been! Nevertheless, this is the situation of many saints today. As far as the experience of Christ is concerned, they do not have an offering to bring. Regarding the building up of the church, their hands are empty.
We all need to have some riches of the experience of Christ. At least we need to have a brooch or an earring (35:22). We should at least have Christ as a small brooch that we can offer for the building of the church. Perhaps you are wondering what this means in our practical experience. Suppose a sister wears a little brooch. If in wearing that brooch she experiences Christ, eventually that experience, in its spiritual significance, will be an experience of Christ as a golden brooch. Likewise, a brother may experience Christ even in the small matter of wearing a tiepin. If a brother experiences Christ in the buying and wearing of a tiepin, that will become an aspect of Christ experienced by him. Then in the sight of God he will have Christ as a spiritual tiepin. The important point here is that we should not have anything by ourselves, but we should have everything by Christ and with Christ. If we experience Christ in a certain thing, we shall have Christ in a particular aspect to offer to God for the building up of the church, His dwelling place.
It is possible to experience Christ even in buying a tie and in wearing that tie. If I experience Christ in the wearing of a tie, then in spiritual experience I shall have Christ as my golden tie.
A married brother can experience Christ when he is tempted to argue with his wife. When he is about to argue with her, he should say, “Lord, I’m going to argue with my wife. Lord, I don’t want to argue without You. If You are not my way to argue with my wife, I will not argue with her.” If a brother experiences Christ in this way, he will gain Christ, even in a situation where he is about to argue with his wife. This is an illustration of how practical the experience of Christ needs to be. However, among many Christians today there is a shortage of the subjective teaching concerning the practical experience of Christ in our daily life.
We need to experience Christ in every aspect of our daily life, for example, in the clothes we wear, in the way we cut our hair, and in our attitudes. In everything, great or small, we need to experience Christ. In wearing shoes, in cutting our hair, and even in expressing our attitudes, we should have Christ. A sister should not show a “long face” to her husband by herself. Instead, she should say, “Lord, I intend to show a long face to my husband. Will You do this with me? If You are not one with me in this matter, I will not do it.” Before showing her husband a long face, a married sister should first abide in the Lord and pray to Him concerning it. If she prays like this, she will not show a long face to her husband. On the contrary, she may show him a broad, happy face. I use this as an illustration to point out that we need to apply the truth of experiencing Christ as the materials offered to God for the building of His dwelling place in a practical way. If we are practical with this truth, we shall have something of Christ to offer to God for the building up of the church, His dwelling place on earth today.
We have pointed out that many Christians do not have anything of Christ to offer. But even if we do have Christ in many aspects as the materials, that is not yet the building. In order to have the building, we need not only the materials but also the skillful workers. Therefore, the next matter to be covered in these chapters is the preparing of the workers, the preparing of the gifted ones to function (35:10, 30-35; 36:1-2; 38:22-23).
According to Exodus 35, the two leading workmen were Bezalel and Oholiab (vv. 30, 34). Bezalel was of the tribe of Judah, a kingly tribe, and Oholiab was of the tribe of Dan, a lowly tribe. This indicates that God does not care about our human estate, whether we are high or low. For the work of building His dwelling place, He can raise up one from a kingly tribe and also one from a lowly tribe.
Exodus 35:21 says, “And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whose spirit made him willing.” Literally, the Hebrew word rendered “stirred” here means lifted. I prefer to use the word “lifted” in this verse. We need to have a heart that always lifts us up. We need an upward heart, not a downward heart. Many times I have been told that a certain brother or sister is discouraged, disappointed, or disheartened. Whenever we are disheartened, we are through with the work of God’s building. We constantly need an uplifted heart, even an uplifting heart, a heart that lifts us up. Every one of us needs such an uplifted heart. If we do not have this kind of heart, who then would be able to help us?
Concerning Bezalel, verse 31 says, “And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all workmanship.” This indicates that even if we are a Bezalel or an Oholiab, we still need the Spirit of God. For the building up of the tabernacle, a material dwelling place for God, there was the need for the Spirit of God. How much more is this true concerning the church today!
God filled with the Spirit those whose hearts lifted them up. By filling them with the Spirit, God gave them wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill. This is a picture of what we need today. For the building up of the church we need brothers and sisters whose hearts lift them up and who are filled with the Spirit of God to have wisdom and knowledge. In order to be an elder, a co-worker, or one who shares in the building up of the church, we need wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill.
After we have some experience of Christ as the materials to be offered to God for His building, there is still the need for us to carry out the work of building. For this, there is the need of many workers. All these workers should have an uplifted heart so that God may come in to fill them with the Spirit. According to the record here, we must first have a heart that lifts us up. Then God will come in to fill us with the Spirit as our wisdom, understanding, knowledge, skill, and craftsmanship.
Now we come to the actual making of the tabernacle and its furniture (36:8—38:20). The sequence of the making of the tabernacle and its furniture is different from the sequence of the revelation. According to the sequence of the revelation, we first have the ark and then the tabernacle, the showbread table, the lampstand, the bronze altar, and the holy garments of the priests. This revelation is according to God’s desire, according to what He wants. What God wants first is the ark of testimony. Everything revealed concerning the tabernacle and its furniture is according to the desire of God’s heart. But the sequence of making the tabernacle and its furniture is according to the practical need. For this reason, the first item to be made was the tabernacle, and then the furniture was made as the content of the tabernacle.
Let us consider briefly the sequence in the making of the tabernacle and its furniture. First the curtains and the coverings of the tabernacle were made (36:8-19) and then the boards (36:20-34). Thus, the first two items made were the roof and the walls. Next we have the inner veil and the door curtain of the tabernacle (36:35-38). With these items the tabernacle itself was completed. Then we have the contents of the tabernacle: the ark of the testimony (37:1-9), the table of the bread of the Presence (37:10-16), the golden lampstand (37:17-24), and the altar of incense (37:25-28). When we have the ark, the table, and the lampstand, we are qualified to be at the altar of incense to carry out the interceding work with Christ. After the altar of incense, we have the holy anointing oil and the pure incense (37:29), the altar of burnt offering (38:1-7), and the laver of bronze (38:8). Last we have the court of the tabernacle (38:9-20).
In 38:21-31 we have the counting of the offered materials. The fact that the materials were counted indicates that everything was carried out in an orderly way. By this Moses and the leading ones knew definitely how much gold, silver, and bronze had been offered. Moses charged the priests to count what had been offered. First, according to 38:21, the material was counted by the priests for the service of the Levites. This signifies that all the offerings should first be considered by the leading ones for the church service. For this service, we need a proper counting and record. Next the gold was counted, twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels. The gold was for the interior decoration of the tabernacle and the furniture within the tabernacle (38:24). For example, the ark and the table were overlaid with gold, and the lampstand was made entirely of gold. In 38:25-28 we have the counting of the silver, one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, paid for the propitiation by those numbered from twenty years old and upward, for the sockets and pillars of the tabernacle. Finally, in 38:29-31, we have the counting of the bronze, seventy talents and twenty-four hundred shekels for the sockets of the door of the tabernacle, the bronze altar, the sockets of the court of the tabernacle and its door, and all the pegs of the tabernacle and its court. Here there is no mention of the bronze used in making the laver because that bronze came from the looking glasses of women who loved the Lord.
In 39:1-31 we have the making of the garments for the priests. In 39:2-7 we have the making of the ephod, the central item of the holy garments. Following that we have the breastplate (39:8-21) and the robe of the ephod (vv. 22-26). The ephod was like a vest, rather than like a robe. The long robe of the ephod was worn underneath the ephod. After the making of the outer robe, we have the making of the inner tunics, which were worn inside the robe. Then we have the turban for the high priest, the turbans for the priests, and the breeches and girdles for both the high priest and the priests. Finally, we have the making of the plate of the holy crown to be worn by the high priest (vv. 30-31), a plate that was inscribed with the words “Holy unto Jehovah.”
At the end of chapter thirty-nine, the work was completed, and everything was presented to Moses for his examination. Moses was happy and blessed everything that had been made. This indicates that after everything was finished, the blessing came down. I hope this will be the situation concerning the building up of the church among us. I hope that one day we shall present everything to the Lord, today’s Moses, and that He will be happy and grant us His blessing.
