Tabernacle and The Holy Spirit

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. In this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. I'm so glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. May we pray, Lord, that Your Spirit work in our hearts, that You would help us to understand Your Word this morning, and that Your Spirit would apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so we are at Exodus chapter 39, Exodus 39, beginning at verse 2. We're going to read 2 through 7 this morning. Here we go.
He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen. And they beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into threads to work with it, to work it with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen into artistic designs. They made shoulder straps for it to couple it together. It was coupled together at its two edges. And the intricately woven band of his ephod that was on it was of the same workmanship, woven of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and a fine woven linen, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
And they set the onyx stones enclosed in the settings of gold They were engraved, as signets are engraved, with the names of the sons of Israel. He put them on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses." Well, I have three normal questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Well, A, what is this about?
Remember we talked about yesterday, all the stuff for the tabernacle has been made, now the garments for the priests need to be made. And we talked yesterday, the key thing of this was that phrase, as the Lord had commanded Moses. So, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. Now the amazing thing is the Holy Spirit works in Bezalel and Aholiab that they actually obey the Lord and make it as God commanded.
And so we come here to the ephod. This is the kind of thing that goes from the shoulders down to probably about the waist, maybe a little bit lower, something like that. It's blue, purple, scarlet with gold beaten and interwoven into it. I mean, this is amazing. You know, almost like royal service type of uniform. And this is a big part of Aaron's priestly garments.
God had described it in Exodus 28, 5-14, when he had given this pattern to Moses, and now we find them actually doing it. Even so much as where the onyx stones with the six names and the six names are put on their shoulders and representing the high priest being this mediator going between the covenant people and to their covenant king, bearing the people on his shoulders. This is God blessing with obedience. As Jehovah commanded Moses.
Spoiler alert! That's going to be the rest of this chapter. We're gonna find that phrase again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. I think it's in there at least five, six, seven times. Because it's important. In Hebrew literature, if something's repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated, it's important. Because what does this get to us see calling? God is the one who commands how he is to be worshiped. God takes us very seriously. And it's a blessing of His Holy Spirit in our lives when we take our service to Him, especially in worship, seriously. He sets the pattern now. Of course, there's diversity, there's artistic design within that pattern, right? Bezalel and Aholiab still have some say in how things are going to be crafted. But the overall pattern is determined by the Lord. So it is still today, I would say.
I think that we still, when we worship in spirit and truth, we're not looking to the tabernacle, we're not looking to the temple, we're looking to the heavenly realities, but we're still looking to how do we worship God? How do we serve God today in our lives in ways that are pleasing to Him? He's the King. He sets the pattern. We live our lives doing our work, seeking to bring Him glory. Seeking to do as He commands, not out of a slavish fear, but out of Spirit-filled obedience. A, what's this about? They're making the ephod.
B, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I would say verse 2, and he made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread. I would also underline the end of verse 5, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And then verse 6, and they set the onyx stones, and the end of verse 7, as the Lord had commanded Moses. We've already talked about C, calling.
We want to have His Spirit work in our hearts. That we would be those that Jesus talks about in John chapter four, neither on this mountain nor on that mountain will they worship, but they will worship in spirit and in truth. It doesn't mean that we do whatever we want, but it means we are filled with his spirit and we worship according to the truth. And this truth is that heavenly pattern that we worship the lame who was slain. The spirit's working in you. and that you are worshiping in spirit and in truth.
Let's pray now. Father, I pray that you would please humble each one of us to follow after you, to love you, to worship you as you have called us to in spirit and in truth. We need your spirit to do this. We need spirit-bought obedience. We need hearts that love you. So, Father, please turn our hearts to you. In Jesus's name, amen. Oh, may God bless you with his Holy Spirit May you seek to serve Him and love Him all the days of your life for He has loved you to the uttermost. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.