Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you grow in your relationship with Jesus. That's why we share verse by verse Bible teaching that's both clear and practical, so you can live out God's truth wherever He's placed you, and you can stay connected beyond the broadcast when you sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and helpful resources to guide you deeper into God's Word, delivered straight to your inbox.
Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Sign up today at ConnectWithSkip.com. That's ConnectWithSkip.com.
Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Toward the back, right in the center, was a tent structure, and that tent structure was. Fifteen feet wide by forty-five feet deep. It was divided into two sections. The first room is called the holy place.
The holy place was fifteen feet wide, fifteen feet tall, thirty feet deep. If you were a priest and you were walking in on your left side, you would see a menorah, a seven-branched candlestick, and the priest would have to keep those. Lamps burning and trimmed every day. On the right hand side, so for you would be this side. There's the picture.
Left hand side, the menorah. Right hand side, the table that had twelve loaves of bread, each representing one of the tribes of Israel. And right in front of you, in front of a veil, was a little tall altar where incense was burned, called the altar of incense. Then, beyond that veil. Was a cubicle that was 15 feet square, 15 feet wide, 15 feet deep, 15 feet tall.
That's called the Holy of Holies. Nobody ever went into that room except one dude one day a year. That was the high priest on the Day of Atonement. He would walk in. If you were a priest, you would replenish the bread.
You would put oil in the lamps. You would burn incense on the altar of incense. In the holy of holies, where the high priest would go once a year, it doesn't say so in the biblical text. But there are lots of rabbinic writings that say that it was such a fearful thing. You would approach the presence of God with such trepidation, even as a high priest, not only with elaborate sacrifices and cleansings for yourself, but even then, according to the rabbinical tradition, they would put pomegranate bells on the hem of the high priest garments, and so the other priest could be outside on the other side of the veil, kind of going like this, listening.
And they hear a little tinkles, kind of little motion going on. All is good, but if they hear a boom and then no tinkling bells after that, they know the high priest just killed over dead.
So they, according to the rabbinical writings, not only had bells but a rope attached to one of the feet of the high priest. They sort of drag him out. They're not going to go in and get him.
So they drag him out.
Now, inside that room, the Holy of Holies was the most important article of the tabernacle, called the Ark of the Covenant. I don't have to describe it to you. You've all seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, so you got a good visual. They did a pretty good job. It's only about 45 inches long by about 27 inches tall, 27 inches wide.
It was made out of wood, covered with gold, except the top of it. The slab was called the Mercy Seat, solid slab of gold. Inside that ark of the covenant, there were three things: two tablets of the law. I should say the second copy of the two tablets of the law, because the first ones Moses breaks. He has to make a new section, a new copy of them.
Those are placed in the ark. A golden jar of manna from the wilderness, commemorating. The manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, that distinguished him as being the guy above all the rest.
So those three things were kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The law that was in there was the law. The children of Israel said, "We'll do it, man. Whatever God says, we'll do it." But it was the very law they kept breaking over and over and over again.
So what was in the tabernacle was symbolic of their failure. In the wilderness, but God says, "I'm going to meet with you between the cherubim on the top of that slab, because that's where the blood was sprinkled. And when the blood was sprinkled on the top of that of that ark, it became the mercy seat. It's a place where God could apply mercy and withhold His judgment based upon the blood that was between the broken law." And the perfect God, all a picture of atonement.
Now, in Exodus twenty-five, verse twenty-one, the Lord says, "You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark." And here it is. There I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the top. Or which are on the Ark of the Testimony, so the Tabernacle becomes to us, New Testament believers, a a picture, a picture of Christ. There was one door into the Tabernacle, and there's one way into heaven. Jesus said, "I am the door." The entrance to the tabernacle was on the east side of the tabernacle, which means whoever wanted to go to it had to pass through the tribe of Judah.
And Jesus Christ was born from the tribe of Judah. From the inside, the tabernacle looked splendorous, beautiful, ornate. There was gold that covered wood. There were panels. There was artistry and beautiful architecture in four different layers over that holy place.
But from the outside, it looked plain, even ugly. It was prophesied in Isaiah chapter fifty-three concerning Jesus. He has no form or comeliness. There is no beauty in him that we should desire him. But the value was who he was, his person on the inside.
Then there was a menorah, as I mentioned, in that holy place. It was the only source of light in the tabernacle. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." There was one section called the table of showbread. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." There was the altar of incense. The priests would offer the incense.
That's the ministry of Jesus Christ today. He's our great high priest. Incense going up was a symbol, used symbolic in the Old Testament, of prayers going up before the throne of God, and the veil limited the access. Nobody could go into that veil. Nobody could go through into that Holy of Holies except the high priest one day a year.
When Jesus died on the cross, interestingly, the veil of the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom. Right, Matthew twenty-seven, from top to bottom, the veil of the temple. God was going, come on in. You can have access to me any time, day or night. You don't have to go through a priesthood.
You don't have to go through rituals. You come by faith in what my son did for you. It's a finished work.
So that's the tabernacle. Also, we should just make this statement quickly. It's also a model of heaven. When you stepped into the tabernacle in the wilderness, it was like stepping into a scaled down, really scaled down. Model of heaven, Hebrews chapter eight says, they serve the priests at a sanctuary that is copy and a shadow of what is in heaven.
That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle. See to it that you make everything according to the pattern that is shown you on the mountain.
Now we understand why so many chapters and so much detail was given to the building of the tabernacle. It was a model of heaven. And if you read Revelation, the Sea of Glass, the Throne of God, you see the correspondence of the Tabernacle to the Throne in heaven. By the way, I said one fourth of this book is devoted to the Tabernacle. Guess how many chapters in the whole Bible are?
Fifty. Fifty. Now I bring that up for this reason: there's only two chapters in Genesis that deal with creation. There's 50 chapters in the Bible that deal with the tabernacle, worship, approach to God, etc., etc.
So the way God and how what God views as important can be seen by how much literary real estate He devotes to a particular subject, and in this case to the tabernacle, an awfully lot. Chapters 28 through 31. Speak about the priests who minister in the tabernacle. What clothes they wear? What they're to do?
This is, of course, for Aaron and his sons. That's the priesthood. You know, when I was a boy, I grew up in a Catholic home, and I was the fourth of four boys.
So my my mom and dad were hoping that my oldest, Jim, would be a priest. That's by the way. If you're not Catholic, that's always the hope of a Catholic family is one of their boys would be a priest.
So Jim was like their first hope, and he did go to seminary, but he got married, so I kind of like nixed their hopes of a priest. Then Rick, the second born, he also went to seminary. He didn't become a priest. He became a philosopher. A lot of question marks going on with Rick after that.
Bob, the third born, didn't go to the seminary. He joined the Hell's Angels, and then I was their last hope, fourth boy. And then I got saved.
So, my mom was awfully disappointed, and she said to me, she said. Oh, Skip! I always wished that you would become a priest, and I remember the day she told me that after I was saved. I said, "Mom, you got your wish. I am a priest.
All believers in Christ, the New Testament says, are priests of God. We're a nation of priests. You've got your desire." She she wasn't all that excited about my answer. This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Want to understand your Bible better without getting lost in all the details?
Pastor Skip Heitzig's new devotional, Soaring Above It All, takes you through the entire Bible in one year, giving you the big picture perspective you need to see how God's story fits together. Each day offers biblical truth, practical application, and encouragement to help you grow in your knowledge of Scripture and deepen your walk with the Lord. Request Soaring Above It All as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help more people know God deeply through His Word. Give at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer, or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight.
Now let's return to today's teaching. Chapter thirty one. I want to just dedicate the next couple verses to my artist friends, just to show you that art does have a place. Verse thirty one, verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri." The son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.
Bezalel was already a recognized artist. This is God's special empowering upon him. Verse four: to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, the cutting of jewels. For setting and carving wood, and to do work in all manner of workmanship.
So his job was art, jewelry, and carpentry. To which you say, "Okay, but where's his ministry?" Answer: That's it. That's it: art, jewelry, carpentry. God called him to that. I'm bringing this up because we in our age have a very warped and narrow view of ministry.
I'm going into ministry. I'm going to seminary. I mean, seminary, and I'm, I'm going to become a scholar and a preacher or a worship leader. You can be a doctor and called into ministry. When I was working in the medical profession in radiology.
And I would bring books, and I would read, and I would share the gospel with people, and what I'm learning. And and somebody said, "You ever think about going into the ministry?" I said, "I am in the ministry. I'm talking to you right now. And if I wasn't here, maybe you'd never hear the gospel.
So God put me here to talk to you and have this conversation. I am in the ministry. I'm in full time ministry. Start seeing what you do as the call of God upon your life." And God will empower you to do what He's called you to do in that. I had a friend named Barb who God called her to be a pool player.
I mean, she was a pool shark. And she could beat anybody I I I met I ever knew. She her her style of evangelism was go was going to a a bar or a pool hall and challenge the best guys in there to a pool game. And if I win, she said, you have to give me an hour of your time to listen to what I want to tell you. It's a deal.
And she would always win. And she would always share the gospel and lead some of those other pool sharks to Christ. That's what God called her to do. I love that. Chapter thirty through thirty-two through forty is the last section that we skim over.
This deals with their identity or their identification. The children of Israel have the covenant God made with them renewed. Why renewed? Because they broke it. As soon as Moses was getting the law from the mountain, knows he hasn't even come down yet to give them the law.
They're already breaking it.
Now remember, they said whatever God says, man, we'll do it. We'll do it. We're all in. Moses isn't even down yet, and they have what I call their "uh oh" moment. Moses is away.
The children will play. And it's like, uh-oh. Verse one of chapter thirty-two. When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So they broke off their gold earrings.
And they, their other jewelry, brought it to Aaron. Verse four. He received the gold. He made a molded calf. They said, "Then after that, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt." Now, please remember this.
It took one night for God to take Israel out of Egypt. It took forty years for God to take the Egypt out of Israel. Their culture, so much a part of them, their background, that worldly way of thinking, that they construct an image of a bull that would have reminded them of a god in Egypt called Apis, the god of strength, the bull god, as the symbol of worship.
Now Moses comes down the mountain, comes to Aaron, gets in his grill. Verse twenty-two. Aaron said, "Do not let your anger, the anger of my lord, become hot." Don't get all hot under the collar, Mo. You know the people that they are set on evil. For they said to me, "Make us gods that will go before us." As for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
And I said to them, "Whoever has any gold, let them break it off." So, get this part. They gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out. Dude, Mo, it was amazing. We just threw this stuff in there, and it's like poof, instant cow, and it walked out. Seriously, Mo, you had to have been there.
It is amazing, the lame excuses that people have for stupid behavior. I was given a list of excuses, real excuses that people give police officers when they get pulled over. Just a couple of them. Man ran two red lights, ran two red lights. Police pulled him over for running the red lights, going too fast, and the man actually said, "It's a V eight, man.
You try stopping it." And then he pulled over.
Somebody else was pulled over for speeding, and the man said, "I had to speed." He said this to the officer, "I had to speed to get in front of you." What?
So you, he could pull you over. I don't get that. Another one said, "I'm hurrying to the service station because I'm running out of fuel." And the classic is, "I'm late for a funeral." Now that last excuse, a police officer, friend of mine, told me about this one. To which the police officer responded, "The next time you go to a funeral, you might be riding in the back of the hearse." You be careful. Question is this: As we're drawing this toward a close, what excuses do you have for not accepting Christ?
Because I bet if they were examined, they wouldn't be much different or better. Let's say better than Aaron's excuse to Moses.
Now, I'm going to take you to chapter 33 and 34 real quickly. Moses has a personal encounter with God. This is right before they start obeying the Lord. This is sort of the renewal of the covenant after that "uh oh" moment. Chapter thirty-three, verse eleven: the Lord spoke to face to face to Moses, as a man speaks to his friend.
One of my all-time favorite verses in the Bible. Verse eighteen is a highlight. Moses said to him, "Lord, please show me your glory." And then he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But he said, "You cannot see my face, for no one can see my face and live." So God takes Moses, puts him in a cleft of a rock. Hides him, and God says, "I'm going to pass by, and you will see my back.
That is the back of my glory when I take my hand away, but my face shall not be seen." This is where the concept of the afterglow comes from. God basically says, "You can't see my face, but I'm going to pass by, and you're going to look and just see the afterglow. You're going to see me pass by." Moses says, "I want to see your glory." Now, if I'm there, I'm thinking, Mo, dude, when are you going to be satisfied? I mean, you've seen miracle after miracle after supernatural manifestation, etc., etc. That would be enough for most people.
Let's say you've heard the voice of God. God meets with you privately in your tent. You've seen a red sea open up. You've seen water out of a rock. You've seen manna out of the sky.
That'll be enough. But it's not enough for Moses. He wants to see the Lord's face. And I contend that no matter how well informed you are religiously, spiritually, you're not going to be satisfied. Until you see the Lord face to face, which means all of our worship experiences on this earth, as good as they might be, were never meant to satisfy you, but meant to wet your appetite for that full, unveiled, face to face transformative moment when you are in the presence of God.
Chapter thirty-five to forty is take two. Israel starts obeying the Lord. They bring supplies. They build the tabernacle. Chapter forty, down in verse thirty-four.
Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in the journeys. If the cloud was not taken up, they did not journey until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all of their journeys.
So we close at the appropriate place of the house of worship, becoming the center of their community. God was at the center of the layout of the mapping of their. Tents in the wilderness. It was at the center of the nation why they were to be a God-centered people.
So, the book opens with the brickyards of Egypt. The book closes in the presence of God before Mount Sinai. That's the message of Exodus to us. God wants to redeem you from bondage and be at the center of your life. Camping out with you, tabernacling with you.
John one one, the Word became flesh and literally tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory. I have a question I want to ask you as we pray. Everyone in this room has had a Genesis. I know that because I'm looking at you right here. You had a beginning.
You're alive. You've had a Genesis. But not everybody in this room has had an exodus. Not everybody has been delivered from the bondage of a past life, of a life of sin, of wandering away from God, and they're not walking in present redemption. God wants to change that tonight.
He wants to rescue you. He wants to deliver you. Break the shackles of the bondage that you've been struggling with, and. He does that by knocking. Knocking, he said.
Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If you'll open the door, I'll come in. But guess what? You have to open the door. We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before you go, don't forget about Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All. This one-year devotional gives you a panoramic view of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, helping you better understand God's Word and stay engaged with it every day. Request your copy as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more to help bring clear Bible teaching to people around the world. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. See you next time.
Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Catch your Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times. What if your next trip didn't just take you somewhere new, but brought Scripture to life? Join Skip and Lenya Heitzig for an unforgettable tour of Israel, April five through sixteen, twenty twenty seven.
Walk the streets of Jerusalem, sail the Sea of Galilee, stand at the Jordan River, visit the Garden Tomb, and experience the places where Jesus lived, taught, died, and rose again. Along the way, enjoy powerful teaching, worship, fellowship, and the opportunity to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem, featuring. Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack Graham, and other respected Christian leaders visit Israel, strengthen your faith, experience the Bible like never before. Learn more and reserve your place today at connectwithskip.com/israel.
