And Moses inspected all the work and saw that they had accomplished it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed them. Sermons
I. THERE IS A PROFESSED COMPLETION. We know not exactly how long this work took to do. That it could not be done in a few days or even a few weeks is plain; but it is equally plain that however long the time was, the work was done with steadiness and devotion. There is no mention of any hitch or unseemly dispute; all seems to have gone on with holy industry and patience to the end. Looking, then, on this work, for which a special endowment of the Spirit's help was given, and which was completed, we are bound also to feel that the work for which God in Christ has given his Spirit to his Church in these latter days will also be accomplished. Hindered and fragmentary is the appearance that it now presents; but it is going on. The wonderful manifestations of Pentecost are the pledge of a work that some day will have finis written upon it. Amid all the uncertainties of prophecy; amid all the hapless guesses with respect to the time of events, one thing is clear, that the prophecies point to a consummation. There is a συντέλεια to the work of the Church even as to this typical work of Bezaleel and Aholiab. II. THERE IS A RIGOROUS INSPECTION. Many human observers, we may be sure, had also inspected the work of Bezaleel and Aholiab; some to praise, some also to carp. But it is not those whom men commend who are really praiseworthy, nor those whom men censure who are censurable. Moses looks, and ever as he looks there is the remembrance of his solemn sojourn in the mount. He has in his instructed mind the standard of success and excellence. Let us also, as being invited to become temples of the living God - temple and sacrifice comprised in the varied faculties of one living organism - consider the rigorous demand which is made on us. These sacred articles, fashioned from perishable materials, and by human hands, were yet such that they could be stamped with Divine approval; and thus they are meant to direct us, that we may fashion all our life, in affections, in aims, and in service, according to the pattern given in the mount - that mount in Galilee, where Jesus talked with all who were willing to admit his authority. III. THERE IS A HEARTY COMMENDATION. "Moses blessed them." There had been so much disobedience and pursuit of selfish aims before, that when an obedience comes like the one mentioned here, it is important to note the way in which God smiles upon it. For the blessing of Moses is as the smile of God. God is as quick to show approval of all compliance with his wishes as he is to frown upon all disregard of them; only, as men will have it, there is more occasion for the frowning than for the favour. This commendation is more fully expressed in Exodus 40:34, where the wrapping of the tabernacle with the glory-cloud signifies that what God did through Moses in the well-understood formula of blessing, he could also do himself by his own miraculous manifestations. The successful work here and the immediate recognition of it serve to show, in a more condemnatory aspect, the subsequent transgression of the people. In the making of the tabernacle-furniture, they had recognised the claims of God, and God had recognized their ability to meet his claims. He knew that they could not yet be obedient in all things; he only asked that they should be obedient as far as they were able to be obedient. They had shown their ability once; and it was their great blame that they did not show it again and again. - Y.
They brought the Tabernacle unto Moses. I. THE PRESENTATION OF THE WORK: "They brought the Tabernacle unto Moses." So, whatever work or service is done in connection with the Christian Church should be solemnly presented to Christ, who is the Chief Builder of the Christian Temple.II. THE INSPECTION OF THE WORK; "Moses did look upon all the work"; and so does Christ inspect every offering that is brought to Him. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:13, that a day is coming in which every man's work will be tried of what sort it is — tried by fire — tried with the most terrible exactness. III. THE APPROBATION OF THE WORK: "Behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded." So in Christian service nothing can be accepted that is not minutely in accordance with the Divine specification. IV. THE REMUNERATION OF THE WORK: "And Moses blessed them." So is all faithful service done to Christ rewarded even here with spiritual blessing. So will it be in the end (1 Corinthians 3:14). Lessons: 1. The dignity of Christian work as presented to Christ. 2. The duty of fidelity in Christian work, considering it must be inspected by Christ. 3. The grand aim in Christian work, to be accepted by Christ. Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:9. 4. The high stimulus in Christian work, the certainty of being rewarded by Christ. (J. S. Exell, M. A.) (E. F. Willis, M. A.) (E. F. Willis, M. A.) I. THE WORK WAS COMPLETED ACCORDING TO PLAN.II. It was completed IN A SHORT TIME. III. It was completed WITH GREAT JOY. The joy of — 1. Knowing that each had done something, and that something his best. 2. Anticipation. IV. The completed work may remind us of the WORDS OF HIM WHO SAID, "I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do." V. As the house in the wilderness was finished down to the last pin, so THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD, of which it was a type, shall be perfected down to the last and meanest member. The Jewish Tabernacle: — 1. It was a school of object-lessons, designed to teach the ignorant and sensual Israelites the truths of the invisible and eternal kingdom of God. It was a small model of heavenly realities — a pattern of sight in the heavens (Hebrews 9:23). It was, in the realm of religious truth, something like the planetarium used in a recitation room in teaching astronomy. 2. The principal lessons it taught were — (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 1. The worship of Jehovah, at whose command the Tabernacle was erected. 2. The setting up of the Tabernacle, at God's command, implied that He required a specific worship; and the doing this at the seasons expressed in the text, that He called for especial homage at particular times, and in an express manner; and a compliance with the direction was an evidence of obedience to the will of Jehovah. 3. But further, this setting up of the Tabernacle at God's command implied His sovereign rule and authority among the Jews. 4. Again, as the setting up of the Tabernacle at God's command implied His sovereignty, so a compliance with the injunction or direction implied a disposition to serve Him. II. HOW IT MAY BE CARRIED INTO EFFECT BY US. 1. It may be done by our punctual and devout attendance on Divine worship. 2. If we would carry the injunction in the text into effect suitably, we must duly observe and keep all the ordinances of God's house. 3. I observe that the spirit of the commandment before us will be carried into effect in a more especial manner by us if we make Christ the Alpha and Omega — the beginning and the ending of all our religious worship — the great object of faith and adoration in all our ceremonial observances. 4. Lastly, that your services may be suitable, acceptable, and efficient, seek the teaching and direction of the Holy Spirit. III. THE EVIDENCES WHICH WILL PROVE THAT IT HAS BEEN DONE. 1. In the first place, if you have set up your Tabernacle; if you are resolved that, whatever others do, as for you and your household ye will serve the Lord; and if you are enabled to approach Him in a suitable disposition, and by a right faith; then you will enjoy in your own souls all the blessings of His house, and the blessedness of those whom He causes to come near unto Him. 2. If you have set up your Tabernacle, and are led by the Spirit to serve God with your spirit, then you will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9; Galatians 5:22, 23; 1 Peter 4:11). 3. If we have set up our Tabernacle, and serve God in His Son, are led by His Spirit, and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, then we shall be prepared for the rewards of the righteous, and to stand before the Son of man "at His appearing and His kingdom."Lessons: 1. As the command for the erection of the Tabernacle is given us by God, and every direction respecting it comes from Him, what presumption is it in any man to go about the formation of a different Tabernacle after his own fancy! 2. As the setting up of the Tabernacle was to be done forthwith at God's commandment, and for the whole congregation, what madness for any to think of postponing the duty to a more convenient season! 3. As the Tabernacle is erected for God's service, was to be resorted to at stated times, and attendance upon it is designed for our greatest good — as a Bethel, a house of mercy, a Bethesda, from which we may derive healing, how should we prize seasons, and means, and opportunities, of attending it! (J. Allport.) I. And now I would have you notice THE SPECIAL DAY WHICH GOD SELECTED. It was the first day of the first month — that is, New Year's Day; and the reason of this choice is of course to be looked for in a benevolent regard to the religious good of the Jewish people. It would fix a suitable season for a commemorative festival of the great blessing vouchsafed to Israel by a Tabernacle for the Divine presence among them — a festival, be it remarked, that was not forgotten by them in after times, for we read that, in the revival of religion under Hezekiah, it was on the first day of the first month that the House of God was sanctified for the pious and pure worship of the Lord. Moreover, this selection would, I suppose, make New Year's Day, in the Jewish calendar, a day of religious observance. Consider, first, that the Christian's body and the Christian's spirit are together the Tabernacle of God. He is "an habitation of God through the Spirit." "Know ye not," saith the apostle to the Corinthian Christians, "that ye are the temples of the Holy Ghost?" "He that dwelleth in love," writes John, "dwelleth in God, and God in him." And wherever this indwelling of God is, there and there only is there a Christian man or a Christian woman; wherever there is this indwelling of God, there and there only is the true antitype of the beautiful Tabernacle which was set up on the first day of the first month in the Jewish calendar. This is the true Tabernacle, too, in which God rests for ever, because He delights therein. Now mark: such a wonderful Tabernacle like that which was put up by Moses on the first day of the first month can only be made of materials which God has selected, and which God has gathered together for that work; for the light and the elements and the features and graces of the Christian character are His gift, such as holy trust, humble desire, love, meekness, gratefulness, praise, prayer, and joy in Christ. And again, those materials must be wrought up and combined according to the pattern which has been shown to us in the mount. Marvellous pattern! the living model of the character of Jesus, the true Tabernacle of the Father. II. ISRAEL'S OBEDIENCE IS EXEMPLARY TO THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY CHRISTIAN MEN. There is some new work now for God to be done, or some old work for God to be done in a new spirit. For instance, responsibility of time to be more felt, and its management and use arranged with an increased Christian conscientiousness. The dedication of self to the Saviour has to be renewed, and everywhere and always remembered. Does not our work for Him who died for us want to be done secretly in the heart, openly in the family, and in the church, and in the world, with a new love, a new spirit, a new resoluteness, and a new will? Ah! a new year summons a Christian in a new manner of spirit unto obedience to his Divine Master. Let us, on such an occasion, listen to our Father's voice, and on the first day of the first month set up our Tabernacle; and then be assured that through all the journeyings of the year, as upon the Tabernacle of Israel, shall the tokens of the Divine presence rest upon us. III. For notice, in the next place, THAT ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH, IMMEDIATELY THE TABERNACLE WAS SET, THE CLOUD OF THE LORD WAS UPON IT BY DAY, AND THE FIRE OF THE LORD WAS UPON IT BY NIGHT, AND BOTH CONTINUED TO REST THERE THROUGH THE JOURNEYINGS OF THE PEOPLE. Oh! it must have been a marvellous phenomenon, that under which the Almighty God thus certified His protection and guidance to the people. And it was a necessary phenomenon, too, under their novel circumstances. The desert was pathless, and they had no guide, and so by this they were conducted in their journeyings. It was adapted, too, to meet their wants: it was "the pillar of cloud by day" to screen them from the fierce sun, and it was "the pillar of fire by night" to light up the encampment and warm the chill air. And is not Christian life a pilgrimage? Are we not strangers upon earth, seeking a better, a heavenly Temple? Could we reach it without a Divine Guide? And though we have not the same sensible proofs of God's presence which were granted to Israel, is it not most assuredly with us just as it was with them? (C. P. Eyre, M. A.) (W. M. Taylor, D. D.). |
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