The Ark is Made

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's 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. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. 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. We thank you for your word, and we pray that you would please bless us. As we read your word, Lord, we pray that you would let your spirit work in us, that we would not just be hearers of your word, but doers. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, today we are at Exodus chapter 37. Exodus chapter 37. And this morning we'll read the first nine verses.
I found out something. I was thinking, why do I always have a hard time finding my glasses? And then I realized, because they're majority see-through, I mean, if they're just sitting there, unless I see the black against the brown of my desk, they disappear. So anyways, interesting thought for crazy early in the morning. All right, so anyways, Exodus chapter 37. Then Bezalelah made the ark of acacia wood.
Two and a half cubits was its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside. He made a molding of gold all around it, and he cast for it four rings of gold. to be set in its four corners two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, and he put the poles into the rings at the sides of the ark to bear the ark. He also made the mercy seat of pure gold.
Two and a half cubits was its length and a cubit and a half its width. He made two cherubim of beaten gold. He made them of one piece, at the two ends of the mercy seat. One cherub at one end on this side, the other cherub at the other end on that side. He made the cherubim at the two ends of one piece with the mercy seat. The cherubim spread out their wings above and covered the mercy seat with their wings. They faced one another. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? C, what are we called to do? Well, we're entering into a new phase with the story.
Exodus from Sinai, we got the law, but most of the book of Exodus, it's chapter 20, hasn't actually been law. There's been a few chapters of law and we've worked through that, but for a large part of it, it's been the regulations of the tabernacle, what everything's supposed to look like and how it's supposed to be done. And then we had the golden calf incident and we had the covenant renewal after that. And now we find that God has poured out his spirit of wisdom and he is moving Bezalel and Aholiab to give them wisdom and teach people how to actually make these things. And now they're actually making them. See, that's what's going to dominate the next few chapters. And it's going to come to a high point at the very end of the book of Exodus.
But we have to work through a few chapters of what I'm going to call covenant faithfulness. That Bezalel, Bezalel, let me make sure, Bezalel, Bezalel, not Bezalel, I'm putting an extra L there, Bezalel, is actually doing what God commanded. We can't take this for granted. Because they didn't do what God had told them, right? He just told them, don't make for yourselves any graven images. And then it's like, just a little while later, they're bowing down to the golden calves, right? No, that's not okay.
It's a miracle, it's a blessing, it's wonderful when people are actually keeping the covenant stipulations, when people are actually doing things exactly as God commanded. And here we find Bezalel doing exactly what God had commanded. The specifications are right. The cherubim are right, with their wings pointed towards each other, facing one another. One end of the ark, the other end of the ark, it's made of the right wood. It's acacia wood. It's overlaid like gold, just like he said. There's the rings on the corners. There's the poles overlaid with gold. Everything's exactly as God prescribed it.
Because this is God's temple, God's tabernacle. The difference between a tent and a tabernacle, a tent is movable, a tabernacle is stone. But this is God's tabernacle. This is a mirror of what's in heaven. So, Bezalel is doing what God wants, and that's good. And he's doing it according to what God wants, because that's good. Because it's what God is saying, this is how I wanna dwell with my people. This is his palace, the king, the sovereign of Israel, in the midst of his people. This is his abode. And so, Bezalel, is obedient.
Wonderful thing. It's a huge blessing. What's the best verse to underline? Well, I would underline the first part of verse one. Then Bezalel made the ark of Acacia wood. Everything else is the specifications like what the Lord had revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. So C, what are we called to do? Well, I'm going to say this again and again and again and again and again over the next couple, well over the next week or two. Are we faithful when he's entrusted to us things to do? Do we do as he's commanded?
I think there's still a certain amount of freedom. God didn't describe the feathers of the cherubim, what their wings were to look like. He didn't describe how the gold was to be beaten out. But he gave the general pattern and a commandment to do it.
Do you? The Lord's given us all sorts of general commandments, patterns, you might say. And I would say especially in worship, this is true. The question is, are we faithful with that? Do we come to him because he's our king? Do we kick against the goads because he's making us do something a certain way? Or do we recognize him as Lord? And are we thankful that we get to serve him and do what's pleasing in his sight?
I hope that you use covenant faithfulness because he's a loving Lord, merciful and gracious. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for the joy it is to worship you. Father, we thank you for your Holy Spirit. And we pray that you would work in our hearts in a powerful way, that we would have covenant faithfulness and obedience. Please, Lord, help us to bring you glory. Care for us to stay? In Jesus's name, amen. May God bless you. May you worship him in spirit and in truth. 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.