We Will See His Glory

In December of 2001, I was a sophomore in college, and I was home on Christmas break. While I was home my stepfather, my mother, and I, the three of us, decided that we were going to see a movie. We went to see the first installment of a trilogy known as the “Lord of the Rings.”

Now I need to tell you that I was not very familiar with the Lord of the rings. I had not read any of Tolkien’s work. So, I didn’t really know what to expect.

First, it was like 3 hours long. Uh, no! Movies should not be that long, just sayin’. Ok, but besides that, I sort of got into it. Like, fantasy stuff is not usually my jam but I was into it. And then, all of a sudden, at the end of three hours, the movie just ends, abruptly. And I’m like, “uh, is that it?” Like, it’s over, but it’s not over. Like, there’s a lot more stuff that needs to happen, a lot of questions left unanswered. Like, Frodo, never made it to the volcano place. What’s going on?

Then I learned it was going to be a trilogy and that I was going to have to wait two years before I got the end of the story. Yeah, so I didn’t love that. But, I mentioned this because the very first time I read the book of Exodus, when I was a teenager (and keep in mind I came from a non-faith background, so I knew almost nothing about the Bible), the first time I read the book of Exodus, when I got to the end, I had a very similar feeling at the end of the book of Exodus, as I had felt after watching the first “Lord of the Rings.”

Like, yes this was super good, but that’s not what I expected, and that’s not how I thought it was going to end. I thought that the book of Exodus would end with Moses triumphantly leading the people into the Promised Land. But that’s not what happens, that not how it ends. So, I was confused. I was bummed for Moses.

But it’s because I was looking at it all wrong. I was looking at Exodus like it was a movie about Moses, and like Moses was the hero of the story. But the reality is, Exodus is not a standalone movie, it’s the first installment of a grander narrative. Genesis and Exodus together are the first installment of a great trilogy, and Moses actually isn’t the hero. When you shift you expectations, you then can understand the story better.

And that’s largely what we’ve sought to do in this sermon series, to show you that Moses isn’t the hero of the story. We love Moses. He’s great in many ways, but he’s not the hero.

We first started in Exodus in September 2019 went through March 2020. Then we made our way back to Exodus in September of this year, and we’ve gone from chapter 21 through chapter 34 over the last three months, and today I’m going to close out our Exodus series.

But, to close out the book well, I think we need to rewind the clock a bit. I want to go all the way back to the garden of Eden. Way back in the garden of Eden God created Adam and Eve. There they experienced incredible intimacy with God. But, of course, humanity sinned. The serpent—Satan—tempted them, and they disobeyed God. Their friendship with God was fractured. Their access to God’s presence was broken.

But God promised a savior. In Genesis 3:15, God says to the serpent:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

Theologians call this the protoevangelium. This is the first time in Scripture that the gospel is preached. God promised a savior, a rescuer that would bruise the head of the serpent. And, of course, we know that’s Jesus. You see, from the very beginning, Jesus is the hero. He is the one that was promised in Genesis 3:15. And the entire books of Genesis and Exodus are the unfolding of God’s plan, specifically, God’s place to fulfill the promise he made in Genesis 3:15, the promise to send a savior.

Throughout Genesis God is in the process of developing a people for himself, and through this process he establishes a covenant with Abraham, and he promises Abraham that his descendants would possess a particular plot of land, affectionately called the “Promised Land.” Eventually Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, becomes the patriarch of the family and he inherits this promise from God.

However, before Jacob never takes possession of the Promised Land, there’s a wide-scale famine, and through a wild set of circumstances he and his family end up living in Egypt. And that’s where the book of Genesis ends. Then, when the book of Exodus begins, 400 years have passed from the ending of Genesis. The Israelites are still in Egypt, but they are no longer a small family, they are now a large nation. And now they’re slaves too. The king of the Egyptians, Pharaoh, has enslaved them.

The people cry out to God to rescue them, and God raises up Moses to rescue the people from Egyptian tyranny. Then, through a set of miraculous circumstances, God uses Moses to deliver the people of Israel.

There’s all sorts of stuff happening: there’s ten plagues, culminating in the tenth plague, including the monumental Passover event, there’s the crossing of Red Sea, and then Pharoah’s men chase after the Israelites, and they end up drowning in the Red Sea; I mean, God is demonstrating his power in a profoundly supernatural way.

The early chapters of Exodus are waaaayyy more dramatic than anything coming out of Hollywood.

So, the Israelites escape Egypt, hundreds of thousands of them, and they eventually make it through the wilderness and all the way to the base of Mt. Sinai (we see this in Exodus 19).

And in Exodus 19 there’s this incredible moment where they have the opportunity to enter in God’s presence, I mean, this is the thing we’ve been clamoring for ever since we got kicked out of the Garden. We want to get back to the place where we enjoy his presence. God gives them instructions for when they are to go up the mountain and enter into his presence, but they are afraid, and they don’t trust God, even after all they’ve seen, so they disobey God and they miss out on entering into his presence. Heart-breaking.

But what we’ll begin to see is God making plans to dwell with them. In essence, it’s almost like God is saying, “Okay, if the people won’t come to me, I will go down to them.” But remember, this isn’t just about God and the Israelites, the real hero of this story is Jesus… Jesus is the one that ultimately comes down to us.

After the Exodus moment, in chapters 20-23, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the case law. And in Exodus 24 God establishes the covenant with the people. And then, God gives Moses extremely detailed blueprints for this dwelling place—this is the place where God will dwell when he comes down the mountain. And while God is giving Moses these blueprints, Moses is having this amazing mountain-top experience, encountering the glory of God… but he then learns that, while he’s been gone, the people down below have created a golden calf—and they worshipped it.

So, the great glorious moment turns into lament and intercession. God is about to wipe out the Israelites. He’s going to kill them all. But Moses pleads with God, on the basis of God’s reputation.

In Exodus 32:12:
“Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did [God] bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’?”

And then Moses appeals to God’s promise, in Exodus 32:13:
“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self.”

God chooses not to kill the people, and he then renews the covenant, even though he knows that he’ll be in covenant with an unfaithful people, he still renews the covenant, and he commissions Moses to build the tabernacle. Eventually they start to build the tabernacle, And that starts in chapter 35, and that’s where we pick up the story.

Look at Exodus 35:21:
21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.

So, the people are stirred. After all that’s happened, and after they broke the covenant, God renews his covenant to them and many of them are stirred in their hearts, and they begin to bring the items needed to build this dwelling place for God.

In Exodus 35:24-25:
Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun.

Throughout chapters 35 and 36, you get this picture that they all got busy, they all jumped in. They’re giving of their resources and time and talents as needed to build the tabernacle. In fact, the people gave so much, we see in chapter 36:6 that Moses has to command them to stop bringing stuff. It’s like, “Okay, we got enough.”

In the second half of chapter 36 and through chapter 38, the Scripture describes the process of construction for the various components of the tabernacle. Then the bulk of chapter 39 is devoted to documenting how they made the garments for the High Priest in accordance with the instructions they were given back in Exodus 28, and remember the High Priest wore a white robe under the outer layers, and under the breastplate, and he had a turban, and on his forehead there is a plate of pure gold, and on the gold plate the words are engraved: “Holy to Yahweh.” That’s important, we’ll come back to that.

Then we come to the last chapter of Exodus, chapter 40. Here, in the first ten verses of chapter 40, they’re putting it all together. You get the sense that they had different teams of people working on various components and now they’re going to set everything in place and finalize the construction.

Then, in verses 11 through 16, we have this moment where Israel is reminded of the ceremony to consecrate the priests. Aaron and his sons would be ordained to the priesthood.

Then from verses 17 to 31, they’re putting up the curtains and putting on the finishing touches on the tabernacle. Throughout this section we hear a particular phrase: “And they did everything in the way the Lord commanded.” This phrase is stated multiple times, just in the last few verses here in chapter 40:

v. 21... brought the ark into the tabernacle... “as the Lord had commanded.”

v. 23... arranged the bread on the table... “as the Lord had commanded.”

v. 24-25... set up the tables and lamps... “as the Lord had commanded.”

v. 27... burned the fragrant incense... “as the Lord had commanded.”

This phrase is frequent. From chapters 35-40, this phrase is used 21 times.

Wow, finally, Israel was doing what God commanded. Okay, look at the last few verses:

Look at 40:34:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.
37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

They finished the tabernacle. God’s presence comes down in power and glory. That’s great.

But this isn’t enough. As great as the tabernacle is, and as valuable as it will be to the Israelites in the years to come, it still is not the same as the Garden of Eden. There is still a separation between God and his people. The thing that was lost when Adam sinned is still not recovered.

And remember, after this, later in the Old Testament, in Leviticus, the protocols that God will set down is that only one person can enter into the Holy of Holies—the high priest—and he can only go into the Holy of Holies once per year.

The Holy of Holies is where the fullness of God’s presence is. That’s where we want to be, but we can’t go in. Just one guy, once per year, just one day a year. The rest of us cannot enter. That privledge was lost when Adam sinned. If you’re an Israelite it’s certainly amazing, to see the glory of God come down in this manner, yes, it’s glorious.

And remember, the Israelites would end-up traveling around the wilderness and the glory of God would dwell in the tabernacle, in the middle of them, as a demonstration to all the surrounding nations watching, the pagans in the region could see that the glory of God was with the Israelites, so this is an amazing privledge, I don’t want to undermine the awesomeness of God’s presence being amid the people.

However, for those who want to get back to the Garden of Eden, the tabernacle falls short. But, here’s the thing, the tabernacle was never going to fix what Adam broke, because Moses isn’t the hero, he’s not the one who crushes the head of the serpent, that’s a different person, that’s Jesus.

Exodus is not the story of how we get back into God’s presence, Exodus is the first installment in a grander story, it’s the foundation piece that will help us understand the grander story. The story of how we get back into the Garden, the story of how we get back into the presence of God, that culminates at the cross.

Jesus is the one who comes to fix what Adam broke.

Eventually the Israelites do go into the Promised Land. And God establishes them as a nation, and they become the nation, of course, that Jesus is born into. The promise that God made in Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled in Jesus.

Jesus lives a perfect life, dies a brutal death. He lives the life we should have lived, but we couldn’t, and he dies the death that we deserved to die, he dies in our place. And anyone who places faith in Christ will be rescued and invited back into the presence of God, just like it was way back in the Garden of Eden.

I want to close this morning by looking at a few verses in Revelation 21, these verses give us a glimpse into our future.

In Revelation 21 the dwelling place of God is being described.

Revelation 21:3:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

Then in Rev. 21:22:
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

What we see being described in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 is a city that functions as a temple, this entire city that comes down is filled with the glory of God. This city is our final destination, this is where we’ll dwell with God forever. And there are some themes and imagery here in Revelation 21 that was foreshadowed by the tabernacle.

Throughout Exodus 25-40, as we have read the descriptions and instructions for the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies is depicted as a square and it’s the only part of the tabernacle that is all gold. The ark of the covenant, the poles, the cherubim, everything is pure gold. Well in Revelation 21, our final destination, the place where we will dwell with God, this place is described as square and gold:

Rev. 21:16:
“The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width.”

And then in Revelation 21:18 it says:
“The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”

John the apostle, here in Revelation, he’s giving us the understanding that our final destination, our final dwelling place, it’s the Holy of Holies, it’s the place where the fulness of God’s presence is manifested.

Brothers and sisters, we will be in the Holy of Holies, forever, and that’s where he will be our God and we shall be his people.

This is GLORIOUS!!!!!!

Okay, two other items. In Revelation 19, it’s depicted that we’ll be wearing white robes. And then in Revelation 22:4, it says:

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

Remember, the high priest wore white robes and had Yahweh’s name on his forehead. We too will wear white and here we see that we will have the name of our God on our forehead. We will be able to enter into the Holy of Holies, we will inherit the privledge of the High Priest, because we’re in Christ. We will see his glory, face-to-face, but church… it won’t be for just one day per year… it will be forever!

What a glorious privledge!

The apostle Paul knew this reality, he knew he would see the glory of God and it gave him strength and inspiration in the face of pain and affliction. He says this in Romans 8:18:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Yes, the pain of this world is real and hard, but they are not even worth comparing to the incredible glory we will see and experience and enjoy forever.

We have this privledge, we will be with him, experiencing the fullness of his glory, and this privledge was purchased for us by Jesus at the cross. This was sealed on that old rugged cross.

I want to close this Exodus series by quoted from Exodus 34:

v. 6… “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

God is merciful. He paid our debts, so that we could get back to the garden, so that we could experience the full presence of God forever!

The Table

And that’s what brings us to the table each week. Each week we partake in this meal to remember what Jesus did at the cross. He made it possible for us to dwell with God again.

And because of him, we will be in the Holy of Holies, forever! In just a moment we’re going to serve these elements—the bread and the cup.

This is primarily for the members of Cities Church, but it is open to anyone here that is a believer in Christ. If you have trusted in Christ, if you have surrendered to him, we invite to partake in this meal.

However, if you are here this morning, and you are not a follower of Christ, if you have not 100% surrendered to him, then today we would ask that you refrain from eating this meal. Just let the elements pass by, but don’t let the moment pass.

This morning, instead of taking communion, I encourage you, take Christ instead.

I implore, put your trust in Christ, and Christ alone. If you don’t know what the means or if you want to talk to someone about what it looks like to trust in Christ, just come up after the service, we’d love to talk to you about that.

This is the body and blood of Jesus. His body is the true bread. His blood is the true drink. Let us serve you.