Gooding, David: 2 - Revelation and the Tabernacle

A very good evening to you all. It's good to see you again, looking so fresh after a marathon day. The first thing to make sure of, from my point of view, is that you have or are near four sheets of notes now. I warn you that these notes will, uh, uh, get more numerous as the days go by, but up to this present moment, you should have near you, if you can, four of these sheets, pages, page one called the structure of the book of the Revelation, page two entitled strategic themes, then another page called section one, um that's page three, and then page four which contains some Old Testament allusions and some features of the seven churches. We shall not need all four of those tonight, but we shall have to try and begin thinking about section one. Please bring these sheets with you in your book on future occasions, because we shall need them again. Now, last night, when we began our study of the book of the Revelation, I indicated what my main aim and object is in this brief series of studies of this important book. I am not proposing, nor shall I attempt, to use the book of the Revelation as a source from which we can select material to build a systematic theology of the events at the end of the age. That, of course, is an exceedingly important thing to do. I'm not questioning either the value of it or the necessity of it. But in the limited time that we have at our disposal, I wish simply to do something far more simple, more basic and elementary, and that is to understand the book of the Revelation as a book, as it stands in itself. Think together on how the book is put together, what its constituent parts are, how each part of the book contributes to the message of the book as a whole. This is, of course, as I say, basic and elementary, and strictly speaking, it is necessary, of course, that we first come to understand the book in its own terms before we use material selected from one part and another with which to build our systems of theology. Now, some of you were not here last evening. We welcome you very warmly now you've come, and admire your perseverance on your long journeys, and in spite of all the difficulties of getting here. But let me just very briefly indicate what we have done so far. And on the first sheet that you have before you, we began to study the six major sections of the book. We found that section one stands, of course, by itself as a complete and self-contained section. It is the vision of our risen Lord Jesus in all his glory, surrounded by the seven golden lampstands that are the seven churches of Asia Minor. When chapter three therefore, comes to its end and chapter four begins, immediately the difference of subject matter is obvious. But then we noticed that the section two, beginning in chapter four verse one, begins with a door opened in heaven. And then, as John is caught up and enters that door, he is given to see a piece of heavenly furniture. It is the throne of God, surrounded by twenty four other thrones. We found next that John, having been given to see that throne, the throne forms the pervading scene that runs through the rest of the section, through chapter four and five, which are descriptions of the throne and of the Lamb who takes the scroll from the hand of him who sits on the throne. Likewise, in chapter six, particularly at the climax of that chapter, our attention is riveted once more upon the throne. And then in chapter seven, and particularly at the end of that chapter, great emphasis is once more laid on this pervading theme of the throne of God. We noticed also that this section of the book, section two, ends with what you might call an official comment. It is delivered by one of the 24 elders, and of course sums up very appositely and accurately what has been the theme of the book so far. Then last night we moved on to section three, and we noticed a pattern beginning to develop. For section three likewise begins with something opened in heaven. The seventh seal is opened in heaven. This is now chapter eight and verse one. And then John records that when that seal was opened, there was a silence in heaven about the space of an hour and one half. And last night we noticed that that element introduced early into this section likewise becomes the pervading theme of section three, as the throne was of section two. And on your sheet I have listed for you the references to time and timing that are to be found in section three. We noticed in particular that this section three ends likewise with what you might call an official comment, this time not by one of the elders only, but by all twenty four elders, as getting off their thrones, they fall down and worship him who sits on the central throne. And as you might expect from these intelligent elders, their comment this time is all of a part with the pervading theme that has gone all the way through section three. Because, as we noticed last night, the question, the major question at issue in section three is, how long is God going to be silent? How long will he seem not to answer the prayers of his people? How long will it be for until God arises and puts down all evil, and in particular the persecution of his people, and avenges his elect, and judges the, the wicked, and gives reward to his servants, the prophets. And the elders now celebrate their joy and the wisdom and grace of him who sits upon the throne, as they declare with admiration, the time has come. Oh, how long the interval has been. The time at last has come for the dead to be judged and for reward to be given to your servants, the prophets, and to destroy them that destroy the earth. Thus far did we get last evening, and now we must, uh, attend to unfinished business and consider briefly the other three sections of this book. So let us notice now, turning to scripture, that in chapter eleven, section three comes to its end with the comment of the twenty four elders, and that comment ends in chapter eleven verse eighteen. This is one of those places in the Bible where the chapter division introduced by later scholars is not particularly helpful. For the last verse of chapter eleven is the verse that begins the fourth major topic of the book. And now you will notice very pronounced the pattern that is developing. Well, just as, uh, section two began with the door opened in heaven, and section three with something else opened in heaven, namely the seventh seal. This section four proceeds according to the same pattern, and says John, there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant, and there followed lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail. So then chapter four, section four begins with something opened, namely the temple of God that is in heaven. And at this stage, by the term temple, John would seem to mean the inner temple, the sanctuary, the holiest of all, because he tells us that when the temple of God that is in heaven was opened, there was seen in hi- in the temple the ark of his covenant. As you are been reminded by the talk that Dr. Lennox has given this morning and this afternoon, the Ark of the Covenant stood in the innermost part of the tabernacle, here at the back, that was the holiest of all, behind the veil, there stood the Ark of the Covenant. Just let's have a look at that ark again. We gave evidence last evening that, in fact, in chapter four, in section two, when John says he was given to see the throne of God, it would have been the ark that he saw, for that in the tabernacle was the symbolic throne of God Almighty. But notice now that the Ark is not called the throne, it is called the Ark of the Covenant. And that is because inside it, if we take off the propitiatory, it was a box, and inside that box, among other things, were put the two tables of the law. That law was the basis of the covenant that God had made with Israel. Of that covenant you will read in the book of Exodus from chapter nineteen to chapter twenty four. And When Moses was summoned at the end of chapter twenty four to come up the mountain to meet God. There he was given the tables of the covenant written with the finger of God. One of the major purposes for which the tabernacle was built was that it might house the ark of God, the ark itself being the place where the covenant documents could be preserved. Ark of the Covenant then. Of course, it reminds us that that ark was the throne of God. It directs our minds particularly to the terms under which he proposed, uh, to govern Israel. Just let me talk to you, therefore, for a moment about ancient covenants in the ancient, uh, Middle East. One of the very interesting things to be discovered in the last fifty years have been the covenant documents of some of the Canaanite emperors. They come from different periods of history. They antedate Israel, many of them, and the covenants are not all the same. You can tell about their different epochs from which they come by observing the terms of the covenant. They are not strictly parallel to the covenant of God that God made with Israel, but they bear certain formal resemblances that make them very interesting and instructive. These covenant documents among were issued by the Canaanite emperors were the instruments by which they governed their vassal kings, the republics and other countries that were subject to them. The great emperor would make a covenant with a particular subject nation. And these covenants were inscribed on clay tablets, and they would, uh, read something like this. For instance, if the emperor in question was the emperor Suppiluliumu, the emperor would begin by telling everybody who he was. I am, uh, Suppiluliumu, it will say, let the world know it. A- a- and secondly, it would, uh, record what the aforesaid Suppiluliumu had done for this subjected nation. He'd generally beaten them up and conquered them and, uh, uh, put them in their place, you'll see. Ha. And then thirdly, there was a demand that they should have no other emperor but the aforesaid Supiluliumu, you'll see, and they should not make a covenant with any other body, king, emperor, or prince, you'll see. And those, uh, basic facts established, then it would proceed to a list of do's, thou shalt do this, and to a list of don'ts, and you shan't do the other, you'll say. And then it would call to witness all the gods, because these Canaanite emperors were a lot of pagan boys. It would call to witness the gods galore that this covenant had been made and warn the subject republic that if it didn't obey the laws, the gods would punish them. Then it would make stipulation that the covenant documents were to be housed somewhere safely. And then finally, from time to time, the vassal king had to assemble his people, get out the covenant documents, and read them and rehearse them once and again in the ears of the people, so that they might constantly be reminded of their duty of obedience to the great emperor. And of course, we only have to recite the contents of such a typical covenant document to see how formally, in outward form, the covenant that God made with Israel resembles those ancient covenants. The ten words housed in the Ark of the Covenant begin, do they not, with an assertion of the wonder and greatness of the person of God. I am the Lord your God. And then follows a description of what he had done for his people Israel, who brought you up out of the house of bondage, referring to his deliverance of them from the land of Egypt and the oppression of Pharaoh. And follows the straight prohibition, thou shalt have no other gods beside me. Thou shall not make any graven image, likeness of anything in heaven above or in earth below, to bow down and worship it. These are the very basic terms of the covenant, on which basis God called for the obedience, loyalty, and allegiance of his people Israel. And of course, as we know in the Ten words, there followed an array of do's, thou shalt do this, and an array of don'ts, thou shalt not do the other. When we come to the book of Deuteronomy, there we shall find Moses doing what the vassal kings had to do. He takes out the book of the covenant. Deuteronomy is a rehearsal in the ears of the people of the terms of the covenant that God originally made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. Now the terms are being rehearsed as they stand on the verge of entering Canaan. And in those chapters, Moses not only explains in detail the significant, significance of the terms of the covenant, he calls not upon the gods, of course not. Mo- Moses was a monotheist, of course, but he called upon heaven, witness that God had made a covenant with his people, and to warn them of what would happen if they broke that covenant. And so the covenant documents were put in a safe place in the ark covered by the propitiatory that formed the throne of God in the most holy place. The Ark of the Covenant. Basic terms of God's government of his people. Now, if we're right in our diagnosis, this observation that John was given to see some object of tabernacle furniture, of heavenly furniture, should help us to diagnose also what is the main theme of the section that is now following. What is its relevance? And here at once we can see that this reference to the Ark of the Covenant is not some useless bit of decoration there to make scripture look nice or something, or to satisfy the antiquarian interests of people that like to do curious research. It is there because it lies at the very heart of what is now to be said. Here you see God proclaims his identity, what he has done for Israel in bringing them out of Egypt, and forbids them that they shall have other gods, and they must never make images to bow down and worship them. This section four is a section that prophesies that one day there shall arise on earth the most impious of all impious dictators that ever have been. Inspired by Satan himself. He shall not only acquire vast dominion over the nations of the world, but shall claim divine honors for himself. And claim it from a populace that is willing to give those divine honors. Listen to the words of chapter thirteen of this book. As the nations of the world behold this beast that, so the text said, had a wound of the sword that seemed to be fatal, and yet he recovered. They shall cry out in ecstatic response, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? That is ominous indeed. For in the Old Testament, the question, who is like unto, is a question that is used of God himself. Who is like unto the Lord? Or it was the question posed in the song that Moses and the Israelites sang as they stood on the further banks of the Red Sea and looked back and saw the Egyptians drowned in the sea and celebrated God's victory over that impious Pharaoh, that impious tyrant of the bygone age that defied the living God. In Exodus fifteen, we read the song of triumph that Israel sang as they saw Pharaoh and his host destroyed and stood on the banks of the Red Sea, and they said, who is like unto thee, O Lord? Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders. And the question, who is like unto thee, of course, is a rhetorical question. There is none like Jehovah. It is a statement, then, of the uniqueness of the transcendent Lord God. There will come a time on earth when a mere man, goaded, strengthened, if not possessed by Satan himself, rise up to domineer the nations, and drunk with his power, will allow the nations to defy him. Worse will follow. For in chapter thirteen we read of a second beast coming up out of the sea, who, with his deceptive signs, deceives the nation into making an image of the beast, so that all men are induced to bow down and worship the beast. Why, who could miss the connection of thought that runs between the opening of this vision and the things that are now related? That Ark of the Covenant standing in heaven with its initial terms, thou shall have no other God but me, thou shall not make a graven image to bow down thereto. The second beast will induce uncountable multitudes to make an image to the state, to the head of the state, and in his totalitarian and mad ambition, he will demand ultimate divine honors from his subjects. Then shall be hideous days, as on earth there comes into existence a ghastly parody of the Holy Trinity. Within the Holy Trinity, we are given to understand there is the Father, and he delights to give all power and authority to the Son. And it is the delight of the Holy Spirit to glorify the Son of God. Now, in these last days, a godless world is to be given to taste of the harvest it has itself sown with its atheism. There shall rise this hideous parody of the Trinity, his satanic majesty aping God. The Antichrist taking the place of our beloved Lord. And the second beast, the false prophet, trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit, using his powers, seemingly miraculous powers, to glorify the beast, the Antichrist, and to get all men to worship him. We have not now, of course, time or intention to study the gr- all the details of this tremendous section four of the book of the Revelation. More of that another day. Shall we notice now that this section four comes to an end like sections two and three did, with a comment. Now it is not a comment by one of the elders, nor yet by all twenty four elders. The comment comes in chapter fifteen, verses two to four, where John says, I saw, as it were, a glassy sea mingled with fire, them that have come victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, standing by the grassy sea, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, crying, Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty, righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy, and all the nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy righteous acts have been made manifest. Once more, you will see how opposite and pertinent the comment is to what has the s- been the subject matter of section four. These who come victorious from the beast, they sing the song of Moses as well as the song of the Lamb. For Moses, he taught Israel uh two songs, but the first of them was the one they sang, as we have already described, when they stood on the further bank of the Red Sea and saw their erstwhile enemy that had held them in cruel bondage and ground them down with hard labor and slavery. The Pharaoh that had defied God Almighty himself. They saw him overthrown. They sang, saying, who is like Jehovah? And recounted with great enthusiasm that all the nations around would hear of what God had done to Pharaoh. And all the nations would eventually come and bow down to God. Moses sang that song on the banks of the sea, the Red Sea, that is. These who come victorious from the beast sing their song on another and a greater sea. When we come to examine this section in detail, we shall have reason to think that the sea there named a sea of glass but mingled with fire stands not only to remind us of that great episode that Israel witnessed at the Red Sea, but stands as a counterpart to the second vessel in the tabernacle and temple of God. The second vessel, as you saw this afternoon, was the laver. It was a vessel filled with water. But when s- uh, when Moses' tabernacle was long since finished and God allowed Solomon to build a permanent temple, then the corresponding vessel in Solomon's temple to that laver in Moses' tabernacle, the corresponding vessel in Solomon's temple was so large that they called it the sea. And in the vision of the throne that perhaps tomorrow we shall consider, given us in the revelation, there is said, it is said that before the throne of God there was a sea, just like there was before the throne of God in Solomon's temple. But that's enough for the moment. Thank you very much. But once more, the book of the Revelation is very carefully written. The sections so far have all of them begun with something opened in heaven. And then some piece of tabernacle furniture has been seen. And that piece of furniture has proved to be the clue to at least one of the pervading themes of the section. Let's look how section five begins. It begins, of course, in chapter fifteen and verse five. uh and we cannot be surprised, can we, to find how it begins? And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was open. Something opened in heaven again then. The whole thing is running true to pattern, is it not? How would you say it's gone awry now? The pattern has, surely, because this time there's no piece of tabernacle furniture, not ark, nor altar, nor golden altar. So you say it's gone amiss now. There's no piece of tabernacle furniture named. And that is perfectly true. But then consider what is named. Verse eight of chapter fifteen: and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and none was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished. No, there is no piece of furniture seen, but something infinitely more important. The very glory of God himself. The glory of his personal presence in that most holy place. The Shekinah glory, as the Hebrews would have called it. Now you'll see as the innermost shrine is open, that there is not only furniture in that heavenly tabernacle, there is a being, and that being the most all-glorious God. And there is seen smoke from the glory of God. So that no one was able to stand. And your mind will go back, of course, to the occasions when first the tabernacle and then the temple of Solomon was built. And on the day of their inauguration, the fire of the glory came down, and the glory of the Lord so filled the house as he deigned to presence himself in it, that the very priests were unable to enter. Oh, what an awesome book is this book of the Revelation. My brothers, my sisters, God condescends to use symbols and figures that are easy for our imaginations to grasp. But may God help us to see that these symbols are not just fairy tales. They are symbols of the great reality that lies behind the universe. This is God making himself known. Mark then an interesting thing, if you will, if you care to take in your hand once more the first sheet that I gave you. We have begun to look at, uh, tonight section four and then section five. Just let's notice an interesting thing. If you take now section four and compare it with section two, you will find as follows. Section two is a description of the throne of God. Section four contains a description of the throne of the beast. Satan gave him, the dragon gave him his throne and his great authority. And in our studies, we shall have cause to consider why this parallelism between section two, the throne of God, and section four, the throne of the beast. Now, in section three, as you'll see, John saw the golden altar of incense, and much incense was added to the prayers of saints, and the smoke of the incense went up before God. The incense altar stood, as you can see, outside the veil, where the priest stood to offer the incense as he presented the prayers of his nation before God. And the smoke of the incense would go up and fill the holy place and penetrate behind the veil into the presence of God. That was section three. Now section five, More smoke. But now it's not the smoke of the prayers of the saints going up before God. It is God's answering response, as in his personal reaction, both to the prayers of his people and the perversions of earth. His temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God are described to us in verse six of chapter fifteen. They come out of the temple, seven of them. They had the seven plagues. They are arrayed with linen, pure and bright, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles. They come to pour out the dread bowls of the wrath of God. How would you suppose they were dressed? You say, well, if it's the wrath of God, then surely they'll be dressed in dark black robes, like a lot of old hobgoblins and demons, dripping with blood and oozing, you know, like witches dancing around a cauldron. Well, you have a funny idea of God if you think that's what he's like. Let scripture point out to you that when the angels come out with the virus of God's wrath, their clothing is indescribably beautiful. Solemn as is the wrath of God. There is a beauty in the wrath of God. We need to be reminded of it, don't we? You can go into some churches nowadays, and on the pulpit will be a notice, please no mention of the wrath of God. We want the congregation to come back again. And sometimes we're tempted, aren't we, when talking about God with our unconverted friends? We apologize. You know, well, it is the truth we keep it hidden from the public in general, let it put them off. It is the truth that now again, now and again, God gets angry, you know, well. And we talk of him like we talk of our next door neighbor. You know, Tom, he's a real good fellow, really. I know he loses his temper and he blows his top and he gets angry, but it soon passes over and then everything is nice again. Don't ever let us fall into that trap of talking of the wrath of Almighty God. As his love is not to be ashamed of, neither is his. His wrath is the beautiful expression of his most holy and beautiful character. And therefore it is that beginning with these angels that come out to execute God's wrath, beginning with them and their exquisitely beautiful clothing. This section concentrates on the matter of beauty and clothing. To take just the prominent, uh, uh, uh, uh, examples of it, in chapter seventeen, John is called by the angel to come and see the judgment of the great harlot that sits on many waters. And there he sees this woman riding the imperial monster. It'll be very impressive, particularly if you don't look too closely. All her clothing, ah, beautiful, gorgeous, scarlet, if you please, and purple. She didn't buy that in any supermarket. It's magnificent clothing, fit to get kings and dictators, and they've got everything they want, haven't they, including their palaces and their country houses. But they they even the kings are open-mouthed at the gorgeous clothing of this woman called For Babylon. Babylon. And in her hand, a golden cup. She's not some slut from the back streets of some big city. She is the paramour of kings. Her beauty is false. It is a perversion of beauty. And just as the beast, of that anon on another occasion. The bad description of Babylon that is given in chapter eighteen likewise concentrates on the beauty of that city and the beauty of the queen who there sits. Come to something far more pleasant. Against the false beauty and the clothing of the harlot. Listen to what chapter nineteen says about the bride of the Lamb. For this section five concludes, like all other sections do, with a comment. It is a long comment. It is musical for the most part. It begins in chapter nineteen, in verse one of that chapter, and goes down to verse ten. And amidst the hallelujahs and the praises that arise on that occasion, because God has judged the great harlot. And finally, at the climax, praise is given for this. Verse seven: um let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous act of the same. And the comment proves to be apposite, does it not? It's not wandered off the theme like sermons do sometimes, particularly the ones that I preach. They begin with good intentions on one theme and wander off to another. No, this comment too hits the nail upon the head. The topic of clothing and feminine beauty. Unlike Babylon, that old harlot, and her dress, the Lamb's wife is given to array herself in linen, bright and pure. The wrath of God, my brothers, my sister, is not only an expression of his beauty, it is one of those basic powers that will maintain the bright glories of the eternal city, which is the Lamb's bride. It's the wrath of God that will guarantee that the bride's garments will never again be sullied, dirted, or defiled. That leaves one section in the book of the Revelation. It begins in chapter uh nineteen and verse eleven. And the beginning, at least, is true to the pattern. Says John, I saw the heaven open. So all the sections from two to the end begin with something opened in heaven. Perhaps again you're tempted to say, aha, but it's run off course at last. There's nothing about the tabernacle furniture here. There isn't anything about the Shekinah glory of God either, just nothing. Except there comes out the rider on the white horse, and I grant your point if you are disposed to make it. But don't make it too soon, will you? Because pray look what the second half of the section is all about. It is that glorious vision of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to function as a tabernacle for God, as a as a tabernacle for God, and as a bride, the wife of the Lamb. The tabernacle. The tabernacle of God forms that great goal to which not only the book of the Revelation proceeds. The tabernacle of God is the great goal to which the whole universe proceeds. If it has pleased God to talk to us about eternity in terms of the tabernacle, my brothers and sisters, then we ought to know every little centimeter about these prototype tabernacles that God had built in the course of history. Tabernacle of God. When all dictators are finally put down. When Satan himself is cast into the lake of fire. When heaven and earth flee away and there's no place found for them, and evil is consigned to where evil belongs. There blossoms forth what God has been at all down the centuries of the history of this planet. It shall turn out to be the tabernacle of God. Just like when Israel were in Egypt, they had to be delivered from tyrant Pharaoh and were so delivered. And being delivered, God said to Pharaoh, now let my people go that they may worship me and serve me. When at last they were free, God came down and asked them to build a tabernacle that he might dwell among them and they be free to serve God there and to worship him. So I say, when the last enemy is destroyed and the redeemed are home in glory, the whole point and purpose of it may be summed up in this, the tabernacle of God with men, that his redeemed people may love and serve him. That's why we have chosen in these days to talk not only about the book of the Revelation, but about the tabernacle. It is one of the key theological concepts, both in the Old Testament and in the New. It is a marvelous thing, isn't it? I wish I were philosopher enough, but then I'm not. Mm. And I wish I were theologian enough, but I despair of being that until I get home to heaven. To ask myself some profound questions about God. I understand that God, uh, made the universe. The universe didn't always exist. There was a time when the universe itself didn't exist. There was only God. Tell me, you who are philosophers. In that remote eternity, before universe, the universe existed, whereas there was no matter. Were there two eternal things? God, one of them, and then some kind of a place that God could be in. Two eternal things? I didn't answer in public, lest the philosophers and theologians would have get at me, but I don't think all the theologians would want to admit that there were two eternal things. I think they would want to insist there was only one, namely God. God in his mercy and his wonder, self-sufficient God though he was, he didn't need us, my brother, my sister. God is a Trinity. There was enough in the Holy Trinity to keep satisfied the heart of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Self-sufficient God didn't need us in order somehow to fulfill himself and be satisfied. But the amazing, the almost incredible story is this. The self-sufficient, almighty, transcendent Lord chose to need us. And felt his eternity would not be what he wanted it to be unless you were there, my brother. And you were there, my sister. To enjoy God, love him, and serve him forever. And he made a universe and a little planet inside it. The Bible talks of the heavens to which God condescends to come down and hold court amongst the angelic beings. But to meet them, he has to have some kind of a dwelling place where his creatures can come. And in the mysteries of his grace, somewhere about the second millennium BC on our planet, he chose a race of slaves hard working in the slave labor camps of Egypt. And faithful to his promise to Abraham, he took them out and delivered them from the tyrant Pharaoh. And not only promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, condescended to come down to the very planet and stood on Mount Sinai until Mount Sinai shook! Under the weight of the glory of the presence of Almighty God. There to these ex-slaves he proposed his astounding offer, that he would come down, if they had a mind to it, and cared voluntarily to give an offering and build him a tabernacle, that he might come and dwell among them. And the instructions, as perhaps we shall see on another occasion, emphasize time and time again, as God speaks to Moses, and Moses speaks to Aaron, and Aaron speaks to the people. Now, if it should be that any of you were of a willing heart, oh, I mean, you don't get an invitation from God Almighty every day of the week to make a dwelling place for him, do you? Come now? But then you observe he's no tyrant, he's no pharaoh saying, you'll make me bricks, you will, you will, and you'll make them without straw as well, till your backs are broken and your fingers are worked to the bone. Not that God. The God of redemption came to his ancient people and he said, now, if you should find in your heart a willingness, but you would care to make me an offering, then of everyone whose heart makes him willing, Moses, take an offering, and let them make for me a tabernacle, that I may dwell among them. And what Almighty God was doing coming down to live in the slum of this planet, amidst a race of ex-slaves, I can't really explain to you, but that is the divine mercy. Forever and forever, take the hint from this first simple early prototype in Holy Scripture, forever and forever. That will be the divine intention. When John saw a vision of the eternal state, says he, I saw a new heaven. Ah, but not just that only. A new earth. And I, John, saw the holy city, he says. And we may feel disposed to add the description. You saw the holy spirit, holy city, didn't you, John? Taking off from earth and saying, thank God earth is over forever. Bye bye earth, we've had enough of you, and we're going aloft, we're going home to heaven. That's not exactly how I saw it, says John. I saw heaven open, and I saw the tabernacle of God coming down from heaven, that his creature men might dwell with him, and he among them. In one sense, that great heavenly tabernacle is God's own building. And yet, and yet, and yet. Just as in ancient Israel, it was Israel who were allowed to build that tabernacle for God. Just as it was David who was allowed to prepare the materials for the temple that his son Solomon built. So, says the New Testament, there is a foundation laid. That foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord. But every redeemed man and woman is offered the opportunity to build on that foundation and to build the eternal tabernacle of God. How is your heart, my brother? How is your heart, my sister? If God came to us tonight and said, would it perchance be that your heart, uh, if I propose that you might consider making me a tabernacle, uh, would it perchance be that your heart would find itself willing? Why, there would arise a mighty chorus of babble of voices from even this small congregation, wouldn't there? As we stumble over each other to say to the Lord, oh, please me, me, I want to be in the building. What can I do? What can I bring? For I too have been redeemed from a tyrant worse than Pharaoh, and from a bondage worse than brick making in the kilns of Egypt. I must have perished forever without the grace of this unique God and the blood of his son. Oh God, if the indescribable is possible, and you would allow me to build and contribute to that eternal tabernacle of God. Oh God, please show me what I can do. By your grace, I'd work my fingers to the bone till life is done to contribute to that eternal city. All right, says God, so you will, but you won't work your fingers to the bone because I won't have that kind of thing. You shall keep my Sabbaths, for my work is perfect rest and freedom. And now perhaps we haven't got as far as we should in our study. That doesn't particularly matter if the Lord has spoken to us. We've had already four or five meetings today. It won't be any sin, I'm sure, if we stop here this evening, a little short of our time, sing a hymn, and then be gone. May God bless his word to us all.