Sermon Outline for Third Sunday in Advent:

God With Us

INTRODUCTION
When John describes the incarnation, he uses an image drawn from the Pentateuch, saying that the “Word became flesh and ‘pitched His tent’ among us” (John 1:14). The phrase “pitch his tent” can also be translated as “tabernacled,” and refers to the sanctuary that Israel built when they came from Egypt. Jesus is the fulfillment of this sanctuary, the “Holy Place” where God dwells.

THE TEXT
“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil . . . .’” (Exodus 40:1-38).

A HOUSE FOR GOD
Physically, the tabernacle was a tent, though an elaborate one (cf. Exodus 40:18). A courtyard, fenced off with curtains but open to the sky, surrounded the tent. In the courtyard Moses placed a laver of water and a bronze altar for burning offerings. The tent proper was divided into two rooms, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. In the first, Moses placed the golden lampstand, a golden altar for burning incense, and a golden table on which he put twelve loaves of bread. The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the covenant, a wooden box overlaid with gold and topped with a pure gold slab with cherubim.

The tabernacle was Yahweh’s house, His royal tent among the tents of Israel. In the courtyard, the priests cooked His “bread” (Leviticus 21). The Holy Place was a “living room,” with a lamp, incense, and a table. The Most Holy Place was the throne room, and the ark was His throne, where He sat upon the wings of the cherubim (1 Samuel 4:4; Psalm 80:1). At the end of Exodus, the cloud from the mountain comes down into the Most Holy Place (Exodus 40:34-38), and that means Yahweh has taken His throne.

THE MEANING OF THE TABERNACLE
The tabernacle is a complex symbol that has many dimensions of significance. Jesus fulfills each of these.
-The tabernacle is made after the “pattern” that Moses was shown on the mountain when he ascended into the cloud (Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30). Thus, the tabernacle is an architectural representation of heaven, a bit of “heaven on earth.” So also, in Jesus, the heavenly Word became flesh; Jesus is the “heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:47).
-The tabernacle is made after the pattern of Sinai. Like Sinai, it is inaccessible to most of Israel (cf. Exodus 19:23), but Israel’s leaders are allowed to ascend the mountain (cf. Exodus 24:9-11). At the end of Exodus, the cloud that was on top of the mountain comes into the Most Holy Place, making the tabernacle a “traveling Sinai.” Jesus is the “mountain” of God, where God reveals His law and where His glory is present.
-The tabernacle is an architectural recapitulation of the Garden of Eden. As in Eden, “cherubim” figures guard the doorway (Exodus 25:18-19; 26:1; cf. Genesis 3:24). Jesus is our tree of life, our Paradise.
-The tabernacle represents the people of Israel. The vessels and furniture of the tabernacle represent the people of Israel devoted to the worship and service of Yahweh. So also, Jesus is the embodiment of Israel, and His body is the new Israel.

THAT YOU MAY KNOW I AM YAHWEH
When we consider the tabernacle in the context of the story of Exodus, two other dimensions are prominent. First, a major theme of the book of Exodus is God’s determination to make Himself known. When Moses first confronts Pharaoh, Pharaoh says he does not know Yahweh (Exodus 5:2), and the plagues are designed to teach Pharaoh who Yahweh is (7:5, 17). Israel too is to learn who Yahweh is from His triumph over Egypt (6:7), and the tests in the wilderness also reveal Yahweh as the generous God of Israel (16:6, 12).

The tabernacle is a permanent memorial of the exodus, which, like the events of the Exodus, was designed to teach Israel who Yahweh is: “I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar . . . . And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am Yahweh their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 29:44-46). The tabernacle displays that Yahweh is King of Israel, who governs His people by the Word that He speaks from between the cherubim. Because it is a symbol of the universe, the tabernacle also displays that Yahweh is King of the nations and of the universe.

Likewise, the Word comes to “tabernacle” among us, so that we might come to know the God whom no man has seen (John 1:18). In Jesus, we come to know the Lord as King of Israel and King of kings.

THROUGHOUT ALL THEIR JOURNEYS
Second, the tabernacle is associated with Yahweh’s guidance of Israel. Yahweh not only “dwells” among His people, but He “walks” among them (cf. Genesis 3:8) and walks before them. From the time of the Exodus, Yahweh went before Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). At the Red Sea, the cloud stood between Israel and Pharaoh to protect Israel (14:19-20). After the golden calf, Yahweh threatened to abandon His people, but Moses prayed that He would lead Israel to the land, and He did (Exodus 33:12-16).

At the end of Exodus, the cloud that has been the guide and “advance guard” for Israel comes to dwell in the tabernacle. From that point on, Yahweh led His people on their journeys in connection with the tabernacle: “throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out, but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel” (Exodus 40:36-37). The tabernacle was the “war tent” of Israel, where the plunder of the nations was stored.

As the new covenant tabernacle, the Incarnate Son fulfills this role as well. The Spirit and glory of the Lord rest upon Him, and He is both our Guide and our Commander. We are called to follow this tabernacle as disciples, and fight alongside Him as His army.