Exodus Chapter 25 Verses 1 – 2

• This is quite interesting. God doesn’t tell Moses what the offering is for, He simply tells Him to receive an offering from anyone that will give it willingly with their heart.  Why?  I believe there is a principle in this that is very important.  Giving should not be motivated by need primarily but rather by the heart.  In the church, the amount that you bring to the Lord, the giving of your resources, should not be because there is great need or if there is great excess.  What I give and what you give should primarily come simply from the willingness of our hearts.
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 says, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Inside and outside of the church, this is how you are to give.  If you give someone a gift and see them post it for sale on Facebook Marketplace, don’t get all bitter…learn!  Perhaps you’re a lousy gift giver.  At any rate, it doesn’t matter!  It was a gift!  A gift given is a release of that thing to someone else. 
• I am not always a home run hitter with gifts…but…I don’t really care. What I want is for April or whomever to know that I care about them, they mean a lot to me…and so look, I’ve thought about this, gone and gotten this, wrapped this up…the gift you see…is in the giving because the true gift is the heart…God says, anyone with a willing heart, I want to receive a gift from that person…It’s not about “why.”  What I’m going to do with it…that makes it not a gift…it’s about their heart and mine…and little do they know…the offerings they bring will create elements of worship that mirror heaven itself.
• God is the richest! It’s all His!  He could call together all the gold of the earth with the snap of His fingers…but instead His method is to see if the hearts of His people will offer it willingly.  Remember this, when we become givers, we become more like God…who is the greatest Giver of all…and see this, and know that I take this ultra-seriously, God says, “Take My offering.”  Not yours Moses…not the elders…the resources given from the maturity of the hearts of God’s people belong solely to God.

Exodus Chapter 25 Verses 3 – 9

• I love this. Where did they get all of this material?    And now, these things they picked up, acquired while they were in Egypt, will be used to fashion and build and supply and a heart gift to the worship and glory of God on earth.  I love that.  Why?  Because Egypt is a picture of the world.  It is a reminder of who I was and where I was and what I was before God miraculously brought me (and you) out of the grips of the hard-hearted king…and yet, although there is so much darkness and regret…there are also so many things God can use to build His kingdom…if I would willingly offer them to Him.
• No more running. It is what it is and I know what I’ve done…no more hiding…no forgive and forget for me.  God through Jesus has delivered to me redemption. Not redemption on my soul and leave it all behind as trash…redemption on everything.  There are things you picked up, I picked up, acquired…that although they were the property of the world…they are from the streets of Egypt sanctioned by the hard-hearted king…if I take them to the Lord, He brings beauty from ashes and life from a grave.  As they carried their baggage out of Egypt…who would have thought that they’d one day be called to use it all for the glory of God in their lives!!!
• And why a tabernacle? Why not just a temple?  If God would have instructed a temple be built then He would have separated Himself from the people…they don’t have houses…they have only tents…and so God instructs the building of the tabernacle because just as He desires today, nothing…no separation between Him and His people.

Exodus Chapter 25 Verses 10 – 15

• Every depiction that you’ve ever seen of the Ark of the Covenant that doesn’t have poles in it is incorrect.  The poles were to remain in the Ark and therefore once the Ark was completed in terms of building it…check this out…it was never touched again.  Only carried and moved by the poles…even as it rested in the Holy of Holies…the poles remained. 
• I love this. The finished word of the Lord…don’t touch it.  Don’t add to it, don’t take away from it…even when things get a little ugly…trust still.  What do I mean by that?  As the years would go by…369 years the Ark would be in Shiloh and every year, on the Day of Atonement, blood would be sprinkled on the Ark…layer upon layer over the years…don’t touch it…the completed work of Jesus on the Cross…is finished…now we are to grasp the truth and holiness and glimpse the glory of God how…through the wood poles…through the lens of the finished work of the cross only…

Exodus Chapter 25 Verses 16 – 22

• The Tabernacle itself, and especially the ark are an almost inexhaustible picture and pointer to Jesus Christ. Consider, the tabernacle was a temporary appointment.  It served a specific purpose for a specific time and once the people came into the land which they were to inhabit forever, no more tabernacle, they would then construct the temple.  So too, for just a little over 30 years Jesus dwelt among us (John 1:14) but soon to come, the permanent position of God’s people will be with Him forevermore.  (1 Thes 4:17)
• The tabernacle was humble in its base construction and outward appearance. Covered with animal skins which would blend in with any of their tents really and the ark made out of a thorny dessert wood…but overlaying that inside and outside of that wood and within the tabernacle it would be a thing of unbelievable beauty and intense value.  Overlaid with gold, filled with intricate and elaborate solid gold structures, silver, tapestries…and the glory of God present within. 
• So too Jesus, not the tallest, not the most buff, not any different than anyone else (Judas had to identify Him with a kiss that night in the Garden of Gethsemane), and yet overlaying His obvious humanity was His obvious divinity. His heart being the very heart of the perfect man and the very heart of God the Father.  Unbelievable beauty and intense value. 
• The tabernacle was not only God’s dwelling place among the people but it was also the meeting place…where God would be and where people could come and meet with God. There is unity there in the people and between the person and God.  Just as Jesus not only was man but also is the Way by which man must come to God…He is the only Way, the only Place, the only path to meeting with God.  (1 Timothy 2:5)
• Verse 21 is of utmost importance. “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you.”  What is the testimony that will be given?  The commandments of God upon the people.  Here is where we see Jesus the clearest.  The people, you, me, cannot keep the righteous standard of God.  God knew that.  He didn’t put the commandments in the central square of the camp of the people…he put them in the ark….
• Christianity is not about being good and holding to a standard of holiness….Christianity is about Christ. God says in one breath, 1 Peter 1:16, “Be holy for I am holy,” and yet in another breathe breathed from the same heart in Romans 3:10 He says, “There is none holy, no, not one…”  I cannot keep the commandments of God.  I have broken every commandment and if I try to achieve holiness by my good works then I am already lost…its already over and there is no hope.  But where were the commandments kept?  In the ark.
• Jesus is the Savior of all men…including me. Religion says you must do to be right with God.  The Bible teaches that it’s already done.  Religious says that I need to do and then it will be done…but the Bible teaches that because it is already done, now I can do… 
• Christianity is trusting in the finished work of the cross, placing my hope and trust in Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, the bread of life, the revelation of God’s mercy and the revelation of God’s righteousness and righteous judgment. And through placing my faith in Him, accepting Him as who He said He was and who He proved He was, I am made holy by the grace of God.  He keeps the commandments, they’re in the ark.  The story isn’t about me saving myself…I am not the champion…Jesus is the champion and the story is about Him saving me…