Show Me - Exodus 25:23-40

[0:00] Good morning, everybody. Oh, what a blessing. What a beautiful morning and a beautiful time just to be in God's presence with God's people. The material that will make up the tabernacle.

[0:33] And then we jumped right into the first implement that God instructs Moses to make, which is the Ark of the Covenant. You know, the very center, the very heart of God's relationship with man, of his ability to fellowship and commune with man.

[0:46] The Ark of the Covenant, where the mercy seat is, where God's glory will be. God starts inward and then works outward. Right. Doesn't put the covering on and make us look all good and then go for the heart.

[0:57] And so we saw that God's tabernacle, it was adorned. It was covered. It was illuminated. It was a place of intercession. It's a place of authority and ministry, but all for what purpose?

[1:09] Well, for one purpose. God wants fellowship and communion with man. That's the whole point of all this. It's not so that we can do good deeds. It's not even so that God can say, there, there's my righteous people.

[1:21] Well, the righteousness we partake of is his righteousness so that we can fellowship with him. Heaven is not going to be a place full of righteous people doing righteous things. It's going to be a place where we fellowship with God and we commune with God and with one another as well.

[1:37] And so the first thing we looked at was the Ark. The Ark is for deliverance. The Ark contains God's word. And the Ark is God's plan for redemption. Perfect picture of Jesus. The Ark is for deliverance.

[1:48] Jesus is our Ark. The one who came to tabernacle among us and dwell among us. He contains God's word and is part of God's plan of redemption. And so at the seat of mercy is where we meet with God.

[2:00] Today, we're going to look at the next two implements. We're going to look at the table of showbread and the lampstand or the menorah. Those are two specific implements that are all about show.

[2:12] They're all for show. The Ark was about what it contained. It contained God's word. It is a place where his presence met. And now we're going to look at these next two implements that God kind of puts before Moses on the mount.

[2:23] And God wants us to see these things. He wants to show us. He says, hey, there's things I want to show you. But the result of that is God wants to show me to the world. The things that God shows us.

[2:36] And so then he can turn around and use us to show me to the world. So Psalm 40, verse 7 says, Then said, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me.

[2:49] And that's quoted in Hebrews. And we know that's speaking of Jesus. It's speaking of the Messiah. And the volume of the book, it is written of him. But Paul kind of says that in Romans chapter 15. He says, Whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning.

[3:04] That we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Through comfort of the scriptures. Well, what scripture is Paul referring to? Well, he's referring to the Old Testament.

[3:16] Paul is writing what we call the scriptures today in the New Testament. But at that time, Paul is referring to the comfort and scriptures of the scriptures of the Old Testament. Genesis through Malachi, right?

[3:27] That's what gives us hope. Paul says the point of that is for our learning. So that we can learn to do good. We can learn how to live and not to live. No, we can learn about God. We can learn about his relationship with us. And that is for our hope.

[3:40] So the truths of the Old Testament are only ever to be understood and viewed through the lens of the new covenant. The cross. The old covenant is fulfilled, isn't it?

[3:52] It was fulfilled in who? In Christ. Therefore, by Christ alone can we understand it. If he fulfilled it, he's the only way who brings understanding then. I can't go outside of Christ to look for an understanding in any other way, right?

[4:07] It's through him it brings meaning and application then to our lives. Any other method is to do so outside of Christ. How can we exist in a relationship with God outside of Christ? That's the point of the new covenant.

[4:18] We can't. So the attempt to go to scripture and look at scripture in any way outside of that is to literally step outside of Christ and say, well, I'm going to approach God's word without Jesus.

[4:30] I'm going to approach God's word without the cross. And I'm going to approach God's word without the new covenant. We can't do that. So as we look at the physical tabernacle here in Exodus 25, it was the means by which God would dwell among his people.

[4:45] As he's establishing this on the mountain with Moses, the whole point is, Moses, I want to dwell among the people. You saw what happened when I came down and gave 10 commandments and my presence was there with the thunder and the lightning and the trumpet.

[4:56] And the people were like, we're going to die. That's not what I want them to understand about me. Did God want to be scary? No, not at all. But the condition that man was in, his sinful condition could only view God that way.

[5:10] Saw God's righteousness, God's power and his glory as something that was uncontainable. So the scripture is very, very clear. The tabernacle of the Old Testament is a means by which God's people, Israel, come into covenant, come into relationship with God.

[5:27] Well, it's no different than the New Testament. The tabernacle of the New Testament are the physical means by which we would dwell with God through the new covenant. Jesus, his physical body, allowed us then to come in relationship and to dwell with God.

[5:42] What is that relationship? In the Old Testament, we're going to read many times as we go through this, not today, but through the Old Testament. You read where God says, hey, I'm not after your sacrifices. The point of this wasn't because I wanted a barbecue, right?

[5:54] I wanted your hearts. I want your relationship. So the physical tabernacle is to get to the spiritual heart of God's people. Jesus came physically to tabernacle among us to make a way so that we could spiritually then reach the heart of God.

[6:09] It's no different. The scripture is very clear that we are to walk by faith and not sight. Second Corinthians 5, 7, we walk by faith and not sight. Our faith is not to depend on natural sight and perception, right?

[6:24] But upon what can only be seen and perceived spiritually. So we approach the tabernacle. It's a physical thing. You can see it. You can touch it. You can feel it. Jesus came in a body. You could see, you could touch, you could feel, right?

[6:37] But there's something more we're to see and perceive beyond that, beyond the physical. None of us by nature are spiritually aware. None of us by nature are born into this world where we're walking through life and we're like, you know what?

[6:52] Man, I can tell this place is filled with whatever's going on. There's a battle right now going on between the physical, I mean, between the spiritual realms of Satan's minions and God's army.

[7:03] I mean, none of us have that spiritual perception naturally, that we can know that. We must rely upon another source to inform our sight, right?

[7:14] Something else has to inform us. Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 9, There's another means.

[7:37] There's something else that informs our sight, right? Because there are many things we are to see in Scripture. God would have us to see many things. So we must believe that God is all that he says he is.

[7:50] And that despite our inability to perceive that truth, by faith we believe it. That is walking by faith and not by sight. I do not have the ability naturally to perceive the truths of God.

[8:03] But by faith in God's word, I trust and believe those spiritual truths. And while we do not progress in our relationship with God, based upon what we naturally perceive, God desires once we are in relationship with him, that we see many things.

[8:22] I don't progress in my relationship with God based on what I see. You know, people say, well, you know, my sanctuary is on the golf course. Mine is in nature. Mine is when I'm fishing. I commune all through nature.

[8:33] No, you don't. You do not progress with God in your relationship with God based on what you see. That's contrary to scripture. Walk by faith and not by sight. Now, what I see can, God can use that to strengthen a faith that exists.

[8:48] But I don't gain faith through what I see. We believe all that God says he is, despite what we see. But once we believe, God says, I have so much I want you to see.

[9:01] I have so much I want you to perceive that you could never have otherwise. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Well, through Jesus, we all have pure hearts.

[9:12] I don't have one otherwise, guys. 23 years of marriage and my wife will tell you, it's still not a pure heart. But through Christ, I have been made pure. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.

[9:24] Okay, I've not seen God. Have you seen him? I've not. So that must be a different type of sight. Must be a perception spiritually, not physically. You see, for now, we see through a glass darkly.

[9:36] Like it's foggy. It's hard to see through it. It's like the windows in my house. They need to be cleaned. I need to do that. But then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known.

[9:48] You see that idea of perception of understanding. John says in 1 John chapter 3, he says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

[10:08] Those two sights will come together at that time. Spiritual perception, spiritual sight, and physical sight will come together when we see him as he is. And then even at that time, God will reveal to us a greater knowledge and understanding than we've ever had.

[10:22] For it does not yet appear what we shall be. We are now the sons of God, but we don't even have an idea to grasp all that God has for us. So there is also the reality that what we have become by faith is to be something perceptible to those around us.

[10:42] I did not come to where I am through perception. But now that I am where I am in Christ, Jesus says, All right, I want to use you now as something that the world can see.

[10:55] I want them to be able to see you. I want them to be able to perceive a witness that's in your life because of your spiritual perception. You know, we are privileged to have the understanding of our minds being opened, that God has given us spiritual perception.

[11:09] We put our faith in Christ. And so the world now looks at us and says, Show me what's different. What do I see different? God literally desires to show us off.

[11:21] He says, I want you to be seen very brightly and very clearly. Matthew 5, 14. You are the light of the world. You're not becoming the light of the world. You don't have to try to be the light of the world.

[11:32] You are in Christ, the light of the world. These are the lights Jesus has got to work with. Some of our bulbs aren't very bright. I'm talking about myself, not my wife.

[11:46] A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. Nobody lights a candle and says, Well, now that it's lit and it gives light, let's hide the light.

[11:57] Well, then why'd you light it in the first place? It makes no sense. Let your light so shine before men that they may see, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[12:08] The imperceptible work of the Spirit in our lives that we can't quite quantify is to work out perceptibly in view of the lives around us.

[12:20] God wants to imperceptibly work in our lives so that that Spirit can work outward in our lives in a way that's very perceivable. You should be very perceivable in your relationship with God.

[12:31] Your faith should have a perception to the world. We do not work for this. We simply are the light of the world. Jesus says in John 17, verse 23, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, complete and whole in this oneness with God, that the world may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved me.

[12:58] So is that something I work for? No, it's just who I am in Christ because he's in me. And if I allow that to work out, it works out in a perceivable way, right? I can't judge your salvation.

[13:09] And we're not even to judge each other based on fruit if we're saved. We're supposed to judge each other based on fruit if we should fellowship. But I can't say to you, you know, I don't see enough fruit in your life. You're not born again.

[13:20] Sorry, forget it. No way. No, the only qualification for salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But those that believe have now something imperceptible working in their lives so that can be outworked in a perceivable way.

[13:35] Philippians 2.15, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. Does anybody live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation here?

[13:48] Among whom you shine as lights in the world. This is what you are. This is what you do. You are this. You and I, we shine as lights in this world. Now, if I choose not to be blameless and if I choose to harm and if I give cause in my life a rebuke, I don't shine very well because the world looks at me and says, I don't perceive anything different about you.

[14:10] I don't see it. You say God's at work in your life, but I can't perceive that. Okay. How do I know? 1 Corinthians 10.17 says, For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.

[14:29] It's not something we strive for. We accept it, that this is who we are. But to partake is not something that can be done passively. It's an action.

[14:40] Something we must choose to initiate and enter into. Our lives are to be continually seen as a perceivable and perceptible witness to the reality of what?

[14:53] What's the reality of my life supposed to show to this world? God's going to get you. I'm righteous and you're not. Is that what it's supposed to show? What's it supposed to show to this world?

[15:05] Are they sinners? Well, God loves you. Now shape up. Unfortunately, there's many that, and I've met them. The Southern, I was going to say fried, but I won't, but now I just said it.

[15:17] So the Southern blend of Christianity sometime has this idea that, well, God wants really good people. Really, really good people. And he doesn't want sinners to enter into heaven.

[15:30] No, sinners are the only ones who enter into heaven. Save sinners. But they're still sinners. God's desire is that we show to the world the reality that he desires to fellowship with man.

[15:42] God wants a relationship with everybody. You know, there's people that you know and you see and you think, no. No. God, you're going to have to use someone else. They're just, but if you look beyond that and realize every single person is a soul.

[15:58] And before God, none, not one of us here is going to look like this. Right? We're going to stand before God as souls, either redeemed or unredeemed. And God will then give us a brand new tabernacle body.

[16:12] But what you see is not what you're going to get. Hallelujah. Right? Every single person we see is essentially just a soul. Big, small, crippled, strong.

[16:24] Doesn't matter. They are a soul that will stand eternally before God. And our lives are to witness to the fact that God desires fellowship with those souls. So, God's desire is for us to see his heart for fellowship.

[16:40] Right? And then to live that out through our lives in the most practical and daily aspects of life. 1 Corinthians 2.14 The natural man, he does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.

[16:51] For they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You should not expect fallen man to receive the spiritual things of God.

[17:02] They're foolishness to him. But what you should expect is them to see your lives. The working out of those spiritual truths in your lives. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, but he can perceive them.

[17:14] He can't receive them, but he can see them. He can see them through the visible attributes of God's Spirit displayed in his people. So we do not walk by sight, but our walk is to be seen.

[17:29] That's the whole summation of all this intro. We don't walk by sight. We don't progress in our relationship with God because of what's naturally perceived. But that walk, which is progressing through spiritual means, it should be seen.

[17:44] It's meant to be seen. But for what purpose? So we can go, hey, I'm on the next tier. Where are you at? No. But so like the tabernacle, we can say, come into fellowship with God.

[17:56] Come by means that God has established so that you might have fellowship with him. And that's where we now pick up in verse 23 of Exodus, chapter 25. God has just finished describing the Ark of the Testimony to Moses, and he goes right in here to the table of showbread.

[18:17] He says, you shall also make a table of shittim wood or acacia wood. Two cubits shall be the length thereof, cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof, or from elbow to like either finger end or wrist and knuckle bone.

[18:32] Either way, it's three feet long, a foot wide, and two and a quarter tall. It's just this little table and there's kind of what it might look like.

[18:45] He says, you shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall make a crown of gold round about it. So God is going to provide a table to meet and fellowship with his people as they'll point at this.

[18:57] God's people are to meet God at the place of mercy and truth, the covenant, the mercy seat and the testimony within it, and at the table. The next thing he presents is the table.

[19:09] Table of what? Bread. And here's how it would lay out within the tabernacle. You have the veil, you have the four pillars. Behind the veil is the Ark of the Testimony. In front of it, which we will not get to this week, is the altar of incense.

[19:23] And then to the right, the table of showbread. And the left will be the lampstand, which we'll get to eventually. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make thereto a crown of gold round about it.

[19:35] The value of this table was not in its gold. The gold just represented value because the value was within what it carried.

[19:48] The value was not about the quantity of the gold used, but it was in what this table carried. Gold represented purity. It represents testing. Gold has to be tempered.

[19:59] It has to be purified and refined. It represents worth. It is the place where God met with man. Place of purity, of testing, and worth.

[20:10] And you shall make unto it a border of a hand's breath round about. And you shall make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.

[20:21] And you shall make for it four rings of gold and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. A lot of fours there. So essentially, you're going to make a lip around the edge.

[20:31] It's not the best quality, is it? And you shall make a crown and then you will make a border as well kind of to give it some rigidity down below and that's eventually we're going to see where the staves go. You shall make for it four rings of gold and put the rings in the four corners during the four feet thereof.

[20:49] And over against the border shall the rings be for the places of the staves to bear the table. So God will always provide a way for us to move forward in our fellowship with him.

[21:00] Right? He doesn't just leave it there. Imagine he makes this huge thing and it's this massive whatever. He says, okay, well there it is. All right, now I want you to move to a new place. Move to a new place. Imagine if you had them build the temple every time they stopped.

[21:14] Right now, God's heart is to move with man. He has not yet established them into the promised land. God will always provide a way for us to move forward in fellowship with him. He doesn't leave us stuck.

[21:27] The ministry of this tabernacle is glorious. It's full of gold and costly things. It's very ordered. It has a very specific instructions to it.

[21:39] It's beautiful, but it's also very practical. It wasn't just something that was just meant to be seen. It was meant to interact in the lives of these people. Verse 28, you shall make the staves of Shittimwood and overlay them with gold that the table may be born with them.

[21:59] Matthew 18, 20 says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. At this point in Israel's history, the holy place of their meeting with God was not about a location because this is going to move everywhere.

[22:15] It was about a specific presence. It was about a presence and a person. For us, our relationship with God, where we meet with God, is not about a place. We come here because this is the place we can meet where we all are.

[22:28] If this place disappeared, we could meet somewhere else. If you come here during the week, is God's presence here? Well, as soon as you walk in the door, God's presence is here because you're here. Yes, it's a nice place, but it's not like if you come in, you sit on the front row and maybe you just turn the stage lights on because they're, are you going to feel God's presence?

[22:49] Are you going to draw near to God? You may because God responds to our hearts and our mindset might be that I'm going to go someplace, God, and I want to meet with you and God's going to take what we give him. Man, if you want to meet with me, I will meet with you.

[23:02] But this is no more a holy place than your couch. When you sit down and you crack open your Bible in the morning, you're like, Lord, come and meet with me, God. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst of them.

[23:12] God is here. He tabernacles with us. The ministry of meeting with God was meant to be carried by man. The ministry of meeting with God, he didn't say, okay, we're going to move over here and he drops the tabernacle down.

[23:30] That was easy. All right. Now he gets man involved. Man's got to set it up, take it down. He's got to put it together. Why? I think because God wanted to see what it really was.

[23:42] When it's all put together, kind of like us, when we're all put together, it's like, you know, they look pretty good. Tear it all apart, you know, wake me up at six in the morning and, you know, won't look as good.

[23:54] I think God wants to see the, see us, have his people see the tabernacle the same way. Take off the outer covering, you got the boards and before you know it, they're just carrying it on their shoulders, the different implements through the desert as they carry it with them.

[24:09] Man was responsible for implementing and bearing the means of God's fellowship with man. We are responsible for that. God has provided the means, but you and I are responsible for bearing those implements of fellowship.

[24:24] Will we come into fellowship with God? First Corinthians 11, 23 says, Paul, speaking of communion, excuse me, he says, I've received the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.

[24:41] But the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread and said, for often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show this idea of visibly seeing the Lord's death till he come.

[24:52] Man was responsible for this. We're responsible to take that bread and take the cup and do communion. We're not doing communion today, but it would be a great Sunday for it. Just a little aside, every Sunday is a good Sunday for communion.

[25:06] But this would be a really good one. But we're responsible. Nobody's going to force it down our throats. No one's going to apply that to our lives. And same with our relationship with the Lord.

[25:16] And you shall make the dishes thereof and the spoons thereof and the covers thereof and the bowls thereof to cover it of pure gold. You shall make them. These are the instruments of service. Instruments of service are made glorious in God's presence.

[25:30] They're just spoons and bowls, but in God's presence they become something glorious. They're overlaid with gold. And you shall set up upon the table showbread before me always.

[25:41] The whole point of this is for showbread. But just like the ark, the ark that was constructed before anything was constructed to put in it. In the same way the table of showbread is prepared to carry something before it's even been brought into existence.

[25:58] Showbread in the Hebrew means bread of the face or bread of the presence. It means before the face of. The table was made ready.

[26:09] It was made worthy to bear the bread. Its worth like the ark's like we said was within what it bore not because of what it was.

[26:20] If you took out the ark of the ark of the covenant you took the testimony of God out and you removed God's presence from it okay it's just a box overlaid in gold. This table is just a table until you put something on it that gives you its value and its worth.

[26:35] but we cannot expect God to entrust to us something so valuable as his presence something so glorious as the bread of life if we're not ready for it.

[26:49] We're not prepared. Just as Moses had to prepare the table and had to be worthy of it so too we have to be prepared. Luke 16 10 says he that is faithful and that which is least is faithful also in much.

[27:04] He that's unjust in least is also unjust in much. So how can I expect God to entrust to me something so glorious as displaying his presence to the world?

[27:16] God I don't see you at work in my life. You know I look at my brothers and sisters look what you're doing in their life. They just told me they talked to this person and not only did they get saved but ten people within their hearing just like I want Jesus too. Man that doesn't happen to me.

[27:28] God you're getting victory in their lives. Oh I can just see you at work in their lives. You know they said they didn't have enough money for their water bill and the next thing you know they got a job for ten million dollars a year and I can't believe this. What's going on? Why aren't you doing that in my life?

[27:40] God's like I want to do things in your life but you won't prepare yourself. You won't come into fellowship with me. You're not ready for it. I can't entrust more people in.

[27:57] He doesn't want to put us out there with mud on our face. 1 Corinthians 10 17 says for we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread.

[28:10] When we come to the table we partake of that bread where Jesus says I am the bread of life. One of my favorite scriptures you should know I quote it all the time in 1 John chapter 1 that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.

[28:28] John says we have seen it in person. That which we have seen and heard we declare it unto you. You don't need to see and hear it. You just need the truth declared to you.

[28:39] That you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. The desire that God has is for us to come and fellowship at the table. What is showbread?

[28:50] What is this? Turn to Leviticus 24. So he just ends in Leviticus 24.

[29:00] He says it's for showbread. Well that comes in in Leviticus 24. Pick up in verse 5. Read a few verses there. Leviticus 24 verse 5.

[29:14] The Lord says, And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes thereof. Two tenth deals shall be in one cake and you shall set them in two rows.

[29:25] Six on a row upon the pure table before the Lord. And there you can see the six cakes each in its own pile. And you shall put pure frankincense upon each row.

[29:38] And that's what the bowls are for. And it doesn't show it here, but they would take the frankincense and they would put it in bowls, or as believed they did, and then they would put it on top of the stack of bread, almost as, and we be on the bread for memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

[29:59] Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. So every Sabbath they would bring in a day of rest, they would bring in the bread.

[30:11] They would bring it on the table of show bread. And it shall be Aaron's! So every week, on the Sabbath, on the day of rest, the priest would go in and he would fellowship with God at the table.

[30:36] He would eat there at the table, the high priest. The bread of his presence, the show bread, the bread before the face, it was ordered, it was continual, and it was to be fresh.

[30:47] As we see here representing our relationship and our fellowship with God, it was to be ordered, continual, and fresh. I have a couple videos today, just to kind of hopefully bring this into a little bit more understanding as we put it all together.

[31:04] Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood, two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof, and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about, and thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breath round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about, and thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.

[31:42] Over against the border shall the rings be for the places of the staves to bear the table, and thou shalt make the staves of shittimwood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be born with them, and thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover with all, of pure gold shalt thou make them, and thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me always.

[32:17] It kind of helps, because you're reading through, and it's just like, you'll do this, and you'll make this, and you'll put this, and this, and this, and this. Okay, where did that crown of gold go again? But the point is that God wants us to come and partake in his presence.

[32:31] And so here, displayed in the tabernacle, the priests would come weekly, and they would eat in his presence that which was ordered, continual, and fresh. So you see the same picture in Jesus, the bread of life that we partake of.

[32:46] The point is for what? Fellowship. Verse 31, And you shall make a candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be, or I'm reading the old King James, depends on where you're reading, it may say lampstand or menorah.

[33:01] You shall make of beaten work the lampstand. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knops, his flowers, shall be of the same. What is all of that talking about?

[33:11] Well, we're going to watch the video on that one first, because you read through this one, and it's like, I don't know what a knop is, or the flower, or the bowl, but it kind of helps put it in some perspective for us.

[33:25] And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work, shall the candlestick be made. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knobs, and his flowers, shall be of the same, and six branches shall come out of the sides of it.

[33:42] Three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side. Three bowls made like unto almonds with a knob and a flower in one branch, and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch with a knob and a flower.

[34:00] So in the six branches that come out of the candlestick, and in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds with their knobs! and their flowers. And there shall be a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.

[34:23] Their knobs and their branches shall be of the same, all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.

[34:40] And the tongs thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it with all these vessels.

[34:54] And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount. So that'll help us as we go through it to see what he's talking about.

[35:05] The knops, the flowers, the bowls, and this candlestick. So the lampstand, or literally the lightbearer, is what this is. And thou shalt make a lightbearer of pure gold and beaten work.

[35:19] You know, I read out of the Old King James. I don't think there's necessarily, it's better than other translations. I just prefer it because what I've grown up with is what I've memorized. So it's what comes to mind.

[35:30] You know, if you quote something to me from ESV or NIV, I'd be like, oh, that sounds familiar. But it's just how my mind works. I remember scripture in the flow of the King James. But I do like sometimes how things are worded in the King James.

[35:43] And if you look like in the New King James, it will refer to the candlestick as it. And if we saw with the table of showbread, it was an it.

[35:55] But I love here in the King James, it says, Hebrews chapter 5 says that Jesus learned obedience through his suffering.

[36:10] Something that was beaten. I love how it puts it as his.

[36:24] They're all his. Every part of the lampstand belongs to him. Now, whether your translation says him or it, the principle is the same. Every part of the lampstand belongs to him.

[36:35] The shaft, the branches, the bowls, the nops, and the flowers. I don't know which part you are in the lampstand. I think sometimes I'm a nop. But it all belongs to him. It's all his.

[36:46] And I loved how that rendering showed the central shaft and then the six coming out of it. It shall come out of it. It's pure gold. It's a source that is a source of light that has no impurities.

[37:01] The lampstand, the light of the world is a source of light with no impurities. It's a beaten work. It's a source of light that was prepared through suffering. It was suffered into place in a sense. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8 says the same thing.

[37:14] 1 Corinthians chapter 12, speaking of all of us being a part of this, of the one, says, For as the body is one, and as many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body.

[37:29] Your feet, your hands, your toes, your ears, every part of that. Their individual, individual finger, part of the whole. So also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.

[37:47] For the body is not one member, but many. One body, but there's many of us. There's many parts to this. But every part of this candlestick, of this lampstand, is pure.

[38:01] Every part is gold. Every part is part of the whole. It's all one. And every part is reflective. There's no part of this which is not meant to reflect.

[38:14] It's all made of gold. And the six branches shall come out of the sides of it. Three branches of the candlestick out of one side. Three branches out of the other side, as we just saw.

[38:26] Three bowls shall be made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch. And three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower. So in the six branches that came out of the candlestick.

[38:39] Just describing what we just saw there. The way it's laid out, the tears. Every branch is fruitful. Every branch contains light-giving oil.

[38:52] And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.

[39:09] And if somebody ever listens to this someday without watching, they're going to be, what is he talking about? Look up an image of the manure. All fruitful, all containing oil. And now we see they're all connected.

[39:22] And none of them are alone. Love that. According to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Out of the seventh one, out of the central one, proceed the six.

[39:34] What does seven represent in scripture? It's God's number. It's wholeness. It's completeness. What does six represent? It's man. Out of the one, out of the wholeness, man has been grafted in to this central stick.

[39:46] Verse 36, their knops, their branches shall be the same. All of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. Romans 12, 5.

[39:58] So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members of one another. Many, but one out of one lump, out of one piece of gold.

[40:08] Do you know they can't make this today? They can't because the gold is so heavy and so weak that the branches would go. They don't know how they did this, which makes sense because we're going to eventually going to find out.

[40:20] I can't remember his name. Do you remember his name? Beziel. Yes. God is going to gift Beziel with all understanding on how to build this. You know, he's like, he's like the master foreman or engineer here.

[40:31] So of course we're not going to know because God didn't gift us to know. But one work, many, but one. And you shall make the seven lamps thereof and they shall light the lamps thereof that they may give light over against it.

[40:44] Seven lamps. Where have we seen that recently? Well, if you come on Wednesday nights, you know that before the throne of God, as John turns to see, walking there in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, he sees one like the son of man.

[41:00] The seven lampstands. He sees one like the son of man. And those seven lamps of fire, they burn before the throne of God, which says, which are the seven spirits of God. Here you have the father on the throne.

[41:10] You have Jesus walking among the lampstands as light of the world. And they are the seven spirits of God. What is Jesus doing? Walking among the lampstands? He's tending them. He's caring for them.

[41:21] These represent the seven churches that John writes to. Seven churches of Asia. And there's Jesus in the midst of them. Many, but one. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.

[41:37] He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. What was the fruit of that lamp? Had almonds and branches and knops. And the fruit is light.

[41:50] The fruit is light. Jesus says in John 15, abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.

[42:01] No more can you except you abide in me. Those six branches that come out of the central one. I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.

[42:13] And what is a fruit? It's light. Light. It's a light to the world. The love that we have from the Father to the Father. And the love we have one for another is a light to the world.

[42:26] The same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. There's nothing we can do apart from the vine. So the light of the world, it came to light the way back into fellowship.

[42:39] Back into the presence of God. God is establishing the tabernacle so that his people, who are meeting with him on the mountain, can have a way to come back into fellowship. And this lights the way. There is no other source of light.

[42:51] It is singular within the tabernacle. There's one source of light. And what is everything within the interior of the tabernacle made of? Gold.

[43:03] That one source of light is reflected by everything else in that tabernacle. The lampstand was beautiful. It was also practical.

[43:15] It was many, but one. It was given a purpose, and it was before the face. Before the showbread. Before the face. The lamp was a singular source of light in God's presence, and everything in there reflected that light.

[43:30] Everything in the presence of God is to reflect the source of the light. And what happens when we do that? What happens when we come into God's presence, and God has prepared us?

[43:42] We are the light of the world. We shine it out. Not everybody likes that, unfortunately. When you go out into the world, and you allow God's presence to reflect off your life, when the world perceives in you something that they can't perceive God doing, but through your actions and through your life, lights come into the world.

[44:03] And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And if they loved darkness, and you come into their life reflecting this light as the light of the world, they're not going to like that.

[44:19] They love darkness because darkness hides their evil deeds, and you just exposed it. And now they're accountable to God. And now they know they're sinners, and now they persecute you. Verse 38, The tongs thereof and the snuff dishes thereof shall be of pure gold.

[44:35] These are the instruments of care. Beautiful instruments for a beautiful purpose, made beautiful in God's presence. Every aspect of every instrument of this lampstand was to reflect the light of the lamp, to shine.

[44:48] It wasn't the source of the light, but it was to reflect it. And again, as we read, You are the light of the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick.

[45:01] Make it different context now. As you think of that candlestick, that menorah, that lampstand, God puts us up there. It's not our source.

[45:11] Again, last Wednesday, we were looking at the two witnesses and how they are the olive trees that are talked about in the Old Testament that have this source. Literally, these two olive trees with pipes going into these two lanterns.

[45:25] It's an exterior source. It's not our source. It's piped in, in a sense. But we're the light. And we're to reflect this, to give light unto all that are in the house.

[45:36] And not everybody likes that. Let your light so shine before men. Just let it shine. Don't worry about the effect of it. Don't worry about what people think about it. Don't hide it because of that.

[45:48] That you may see, that men may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So here we see that the light, it was to be carried, it was to be seen, and it was to be reflected.

[46:01] Of a talent of pure gold, shall he make it with all these vessels? A single pure work, a single pure source. One source of gold for one work.

[46:13] Because he has made him to be sin who knew no sin. One single source of purity so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We all become part of that same source.

[46:25] And look that you make them, as we end this, after the pattern, which was showed you in the mountain. Don't deviate from this, Moses. Look how important it is.

[46:36] To not deviate. Imagine if Moses said, you know, I like the number eight. I'm going to do eight. Menorah of eight. It had to be seven. He said, well, you know what?

[46:46] I don't want to make it of gold. I like the wood. Oh, the grain is so beautiful. Well, then it's not going to reflect properly. He said, well, I don't want to light them all. I'm going to light every other one.

[46:57] It's kind of aesthetic. I like that look. He said, no. They all are lit. It's a source. It's continual. No deviation. You see, both the tabernacle of the Old Testament and the tabernacle, Jesus, of the New Testament, they perfectly and accurately represented the tabernacle of heaven.

[47:19] God's desire to bring us into his presence for fellowship, perfectly reflected here in these physical furniture that we're building and perfectly reflected in the body and life of Jesus.

[47:35] The pattern points to a person, doesn't it? And that person points to a way that we may partake in God's presence. At the tabernacle, we partake of both bread and light.

[47:48] It is there that we come into God's presence. It is at that place that we come into the source of God's light, his life, and his bread. John 1, verse 4, In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

[48:04] But men hated that light. Psalm 27, verse 1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life.

[48:14] Of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is my light and my salvation. He's the source. What's my part? Just get shined on. Just let him shine on you.

[48:26] Right? Let him shine. Because why? When I come into the light, if I walk in the light as he is in the light, I have fellowship. I have one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin. We can have fellowship because the blood's cleansing us from our sin.

[48:40] There's no separation. It's going to expose. There's a moment of exposure when the light hits. It's like, It was a cockroach, but then it's gone. It's all taken care of.

[48:53] But it's our salvation. The Lord is my light. It's also to reflect that light of salvation that others may see. Another place that talks about light, talk about this one quite a bit.

[49:06] The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. Both the table of showbread and the menorah, the lampstand, were for the purpose of showing what they bore.

[49:24] They bore the bread and the light. That's why they were designed. Without light, there's no point in a menorah, and a candlestick, and a lampstand. Without the bread, there's no point in the table of showbread.

[49:35] What's the point of it? It is what we bear that gives substance to our life. It is what we reflect that gives worth to our life.

[49:50] It is what we partake of that allows us to exist in the presence of God in fellowship. How do we do that today? How do I do that? How do I come into God's presence?

[50:01] Man, if only there was a menorah. If only there was a table of showbread. Maybe we could turn that building over there into a tabernacle. How do I do this? That's kind of all contained right here.

[50:18] But we have to partake. We have to choose to bear that. I have to choose to let his light shine on me. Yes, I want to be a light to the world. God, I want them to see you in me. But that means I got to let you expose this junk in here.

[50:31] And I got to let you make it shiny again. Why? So I can look all pretty for everybody? So that I can shine, so I can reflect that to the world. Because they can't see, guys.

[50:41] They love darkness. And they're blind. God wants to show me himself first. He wants to show me himself.

[50:52] He wants me to see him. Not through these eyes, but through this eye. These eyes. So that he can then show me to the world. So he can take me out of the world and say, hey, look at this.

[51:03] I can do that. If I can do that for that guy, I can do it for you too. We do not walk by sight, but our walk is to be seen. And just as we see here at the tabernacle, a tabernacle that will walk with God's people throughout their entire journey and will be seen by the world.

[51:22] Our walk is to be seen. We are to display the bread of life and we are to be a reflection of light in this world. How are we going to do that?

[51:36] Just abide in his presence. All this takes place in his presence. All this is because these implements are in his presence. Remove him from his presence. they lose all their value and all their worth.

[51:48] Turn out the light? What's it matter? How much gold there is? It's not reflecting anything. Father, thank you for your word that searches our hearts, Lord.

[52:08] Thank you, Lord. That can change our hearts. Oh, God. You start inward, Lord. You shine a light in there and there's so much in there, Lord.

[52:20] I'd rather keep hidden. But never once, Lord, have you shined that light in there to expose me to other people, to ridicule, to shame.

[52:33] No, you became sin who knew no sin so that I could partake of your righteousness. You don't want to condemn me. You came not into the world to condemn the world, but the world might be saved.

[52:46] He who believes not is condemned already, but he who believes shall be saved. Lord, as we allow your word to shine in our lives, as we allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, Lord, it's not for the purpose so we can pat ourselves on the back and feel good about ourselves, Lord.

[53:05] It's because you long to bring us into your presence, Lord. The most fulfilling place we can experience in life is in the presence of God. And we thank you on this side of the cross that we can look back at a beautiful picture of this.

[53:20] Thank you, God. I don't have to come by offering and by sacrifice and by showbread and by incense and you did all that. You fulfilled the law and you fulfilled all that was required for me to come into your presence.

[53:32] And so, Lord, we want to do that as we end now, Lord, as we sing this last song. We pray, Lord, that you would shine in our hearts, Lord, and that you would shine them up so that we can accurately reflect the imperceptible, amazing, beautiful, spiritual presence of God to this world.

[53:54] And, Lord, we don't get to pick. We don't get to decide how we're going to do this. You're the one who calls the shots. You're the design engineer, Lord. You said this is what it's going to look like and this is what it's going to be.

[54:05] It's our part to implement it. We have that amazing privilege to take the things of God and bring them to the world, to bear them, to reflect them, and in Christ, to be one with them.

[54:21] Change our hearts and, Lord, make us like you. In your name we pray. Amen.