20
The Tabernacle priest could go on into the presence of God in the Most Holy Place once a year. In these studies we shall begin at the gate and the altar, leading on to the presence of Jeho- vah. The sinner must meet God first at the altar of sacri- fice before he may talk to Him in prayer and enter into His very throne-room, by faith in the shed blood of His well beloved Son! Our God came down from heaven to a manger and a cross; we may draw near to Him as we meet Him first at the foot of that cross; and only then may we go on with Him into heaven itself. The Free-Will Offerings for the Tabernacle It was a very costly tabernacle, yet a tent still. God's people lived in tents; and in a beautiful tent He dwelt among them. It was a very, very costly sacrifice the Lord Jesus made when He left heaven's glory to "tabernacle" among men (John 1: 14). It cost Him His own precious blood. But His people whom He came to redeem lived in "earthly tabernacles" of the flesh. Therefore, in order to save sinners, He did not become an angel; He became a Man, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14; cf. Heb. 2:14-18). And where did Israel obtain the thousands of dollars for the erection of the tabernacle? From their well-earned wages when they left Egypt on that wonderful night. Exodus tells the story: Israel had worked long as slaves, in bitter bondage; therefore, God told His people to "ask" -not "borrow," as the King James Version renders the word-from the Egyptians jewels of silver and gold and all the precious things which He knew they would need, which He knew they had earned. God did not tell His people to "borrow" what He knew they could not pay
21 The Tabernacle back; He did tell them to "ask" for what they had earned. The Revised Version so translates the word wherever it occurs in the sacred record. (See Exod. 11:2; 12:35, 36. The word "lent" in verse 36 is literally "gave.") The people were told by the Lord, through Moses, to bring only such things as they wanted to present "will- ingly" unto Him, "an offering" from "the heart" (Exod. 2 5:2). And the wonderful result was that they brought so much that Moses had to tell them not to bring any more. "So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much" (Exod. 36:5-7). Need we comment upon this lesson in giving unto the Lord? If God's people today would bring "willingly" an offering from the heart, according to the way in which He has prospered them, then the pleas from the pagan world would not go unheeded; the cries of the missionary heart for more labourers in the harvest :field would be heard and answered. May God help us to give as Israel did of old! No stranger was to have a part in these gifts for the building of the tabernacle. Nor does God want the money of unsaved men to be used in winning "living stones" for "the temple of the Holy Ghost," which is His church. The Workmen God called two chosen men to oversee the building of the tabernacle. Every house has to have an architect, a contractor, someone to plan and to carry out that plan. God put in charge of the house that He Himself had planned Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah; and Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan. Concerning Bezaleel He said, in Exod. 31:1-6:
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online