Exodus 25:1-9--Contributions for the Sanctuary

Contributions for the Sanctuary​
25 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “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. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, 5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

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A short passage today.  In fact, many of the passages coming up are going to be on the "shorter" side as we will be talking about the instructions to make each of the pieces of the Tabernacle after this.  For now though, God is going to remind Moses and the people that He's already provided the resources for almost everything that He's going to command them to make.

Remember all the gold and jewelry and other riches that the Egyptians gave to the Israelites to pay them to leave after the 10th plague?  That's the exact stuff that the people are going to give back to God in order to build His Tabernacle?  There will be some items that will be made of leather or wool or wood that probably need to be harvested from the resources that God has made available to them from their flocks and herds and the acacia wood probably wouldn't be easy to find in the desert, but remember one of God's names is "The LORD Will Provide."

The offering being spoken of here is going to be compulsory but voluntary at the same time--much like the offering is supposed to be in our local congregations today.  There is an expectation for everyone to be obedient in giving, and there's even an expectation that the tithe still belongs to the Lord, but we are encouraged to freely give freewill offerings above and beyond the tithe that we give in obedience to the Lord.

God gives a specific list of things that are on His "registry" for people to give as gifts to Him and these are the only items that He's interested at this time from collecting from the people for this purpose--He'll also soon name specific people that He's prepared with specific talents just for the purpose of building the Tabernacle for Him.  Among the list of things required are:

 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, 5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

God even starts to tell Moses what some of the items will be used for, but not everything.  That's how it is in our lives many times as we come out of a situation that was terrible (like His people's slavery in Egypt) with riches that we cannot imagine what they would be used for--though we know they are not for ourselves.  As time goes on He eventually reveals more and more of His plan to us to say "Hang onto that and don't waste it," and "You're going to use that to honor and glorify Me someday."  Great, but what's that going to look like?  Sometimes we don't get a lot of details, and then sometimes God is like an engineer that lays out the entire schematic for you like He's going to do with Moses and say "Here's the plan, and you need to follow My instructions to the smallest detail."  We also see in God's specifications and detail that He's going to give that anything less than perfect is going to be unacceptable to Him--He told them what to make everything--what to make it of, how thick each layer should be, how much it should weigh and the exact amount of metal that should be used, the exact diameter of each ring--nothing was left up to them to say "I did what felt right to me."  Our worship to the Lord is not about what we feel is right--we must approach God on His terms and in the way that He prescribes if we want our worship to be honoring and glorifying to Him.  Ultimately, that will be through the person and the work of Jesus Christ, and we'll see that everything in the Tabernacle is going to point to that--even the fact that it is a Tabernacle will be used later to talk about how Jesus took on flesh and tabernacled among us and it was a temporary dwelling arrangement for Him that veiled His full glory, much in the same way that God's presence was hidden in the Most Holy Place behind a veil--that veil that would be town from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross would represent His body--but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Why is it so important that Moses design everything to the exact design specifications given by God?  Let's look once again at the book of Hebrews which we've already studied in our blogs.  Remember Hebrews 8:5?  Let me post it here for you in context since chapter 8 of the book of Hebrews is pretty short.  The items Moses is being commanded to make are a copy of the the things that he sees in heaven.  God is describing in great detail items that foreshadow the place He has prepared for His people where we will live with Him and enjoy Him and worship Him forever, and it's important for Moses to get that right.  They also describe the coming of Jesus and His mission and work, and it's of course very important to get that right too.  So, let's not try to read in the coming days with cataracts over our eyes thinking these are old instructions for an old system of an old religion that doesn't matter to us.  No, we no longer have a sacrificial system where we make daily sacrifices for atonement, and we no longer have a lot of ritual that has to be done for special people to approach God for us, but that doesn't mean that we don't have something to learn about God's gospel message and the kind of worship and worshipers that He desires from the instructions that He gives because we recall that He is the same yesterday, today and forever and that, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,​" (2 Timothy 3:16).

Hebrews 8
Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant
8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 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. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”