The Price of the Presence: Israel's Radical Tabernacle Building Project

One day, a leader among believers stood up and made a shocking announcement. Please stop giving your gold. We have too much. What would you think of that? That leader that I am speaking of is Moses. See, last week we read about how Israel took the gold from the land of Egypt to build a God of of Egypt, the golden calf. But in the next chapter of this story, a miraculous change of heart occurs. Israel chooses to now use their gold not for a golden calf, but a golden tabernacle unto Yahweh. They move from the counterfeit to the presence of but what caused this heart transformation? How much gold did they actually give? And how did God respond when they did? In a world obsessed with materialism, holding onto wealth out of fear and arguing over what the tithing sealing is, what happens when Israel's generosity and literally overflows? Right after the incident of the golden calf, Israel suffered for their sin. They were like the woman who brought an alabaster flask of ointment to Yeshua, who began to wet his feet with her tears and wipe them with their hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed his feet with ointment. And Yeshua responds to her in Luke 7:47, saying, Therefore I tell you Pharisees, that her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but he who has forgiven little loves little. Israel is now this woman, recognizing her past sins of idol worship and the forgiveness that has been afforded to her by God. And she wants to now pour out a priceless alabaster treasure for her father. We see Israel does this by bringing their most precious gold to God. We read in Exodus 35, 5 take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart of let him bring the Lord's contribution of gold, silver and bronze. And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him. And they brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments. So we see this interesting language used of everyone who is of a generous heart, everyone whose heart stirred him, everyone whose spirit moved him. It's speaking of something deep that takes place within the human soul, this eruption of generosity for a righteous cause because of recognizing the mercies that God has given us, a desire to give mercy, as God has given us mercy. And this leads to this action in Israel called a free will offering and a freewill offering. It's key to understand it's free will, not a forced will offering. Because remember, just before this event in Exodus 3:32. Israel chose the golden calf. They invested their gold into it. But God wants us to choose him voluntarily, not because we have to, but because we want to, because of that deep generosity that erupts from our souls. This is a great act of worship that in the midst of options, we choose God for the things of this world. They're competing with God for your attention and it's a test for your heart. As Jesus said himself in Matthew 6:21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Israel's heart was still with the goddess Hathor when they were building that golden calf. But they repented. And Israel's golden calf repentance wasn't just saying sorry to God, but reorientating their worship by giving their gold to God's kingdom. And so we learn that where we give our treasure is where our worship is and where our heart lies. I mean, I want you to see how much Israel actually gave, even in today's terms. But before we do, we need to understand the cultural context within which they gave their gold to see how challenging their generosity actually would have been. First, consider Israel's past. Consider where they came out of slavery. And in slavery you own just about nothing. And there is a great risk of having a poverty mindset, as we would call it today, as slaves who grew up with nothing, now suddenly God gives them not only freedom, but riches of gold, the plunderings of Egypt. And now suddenly they are tested by God after just receiving all of this to give it away to God again. See, when you've lived with scarcity all your life and now you have abundance in, it's easy to let the fear of loss drive you to either hoard as much treasure for yourself as you can to prevent anything from getting lost, or to spend it quickly on yourself before you could lose it somewhere else. See, ironically, the fear of losing our treasure becomes a self fulfilling prophecy by which the treasure is lost. See, a wise person on the other hand, understands where all good things come from and trusts God with it. He understands 1 Timothy 6:7, which says, for we brought nothing into this world and we cannot take anything out of this world. And so in our time, our little time that we have in this world, we live generously with what we have and we trust God as the one who provided all we have and will continue to provide our needs. And we don't make decisions out of a fear of lack or a fear of loss, or out of any fear at all. The ungodly desires of this world will seek to rule our hearts. But there is an antidote for it. Generosity towards God. Generosity is a form of worship that actively chooses God over the idols of this world. And the person who does this, who worships the Lord with all they have, is richer than all the gold in the world. Another thing I want you to understand about Israel is not just their past, but their present. See, Israel has a present challenge for being generous, and that's that they're in a wilderness, a place by definition of lack. Egypt, the place they came out of, was the economic hub of the known world, the place where there is work, the place where people, people come through to trade, buy and sell. Egypt had the gold, they plundered the Egyptians for the gold when they left. And they now obviously understand that this wilderness isn't full of gold and they're not going to easily have that same opportunity to acquire gold again. So it's quite obvious that once I give this gold that I have to God, it's gone. I don't have a 9 to 5 to go to to work so that my employer can give me some more gold. No, I'm in a wilderness. And yet, despite all of this, Israel makes an offering to God. Do you see how a true offering to God will actually cost us something? I mean, it's not a sacrifice if it's not a sacrifice, and in Israel's case, it was a great sacrifice. I want you to understand just how abundant this offering of gold was that they're about to make. We read in Exodus 36:5 about these craftsmen who were commissioned by God to build this tabernacle out of the gold. And the craftsmen say to Moses, the people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do. So Moses gave command, and the word was proclaimed throughout the camp. Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary. And so the people were restrained from bringing for the material that they had was sufficient to do all the work and, and more. See, in our giving to God, we can be tempted to just satisfy the expectation. I mean, isn't that what the great debate on tithing has always been about? Should we give 10%? Can we give less? Is the 10% tithe still in effect, or is it abolished? You know, what does God expect of us in our giving? And I'm not opposed to these questions. I'm not opposed to discussing the question of tithing. We have videos on tithing. I'm going to link one of them in the description for you. But in this Video, we're discovering that Israel didn't just satisfy the expectation of how much to give. Rather, they gave so much that Moses had to tell them to stop giving. I mean, just think about this for a second. Israel's hearts were overflowing so much. They weren't debating about what the ceiling of giving is. And when our hearts overflow as they did, we give without fear, we give without debates, we give without greed until the need is met. See, sadly, the 10% tithe debate has at times become about the sealing of our giving. How can we get out of giving too much? Yet I thank God that Israel did not hold back. Hallelujah. When they gave to the tabernacle, to the kingdom, work of the Lord, to the craftsmen, and to Moses, they did not hold back. So the question that I have for you is, and for me is, will we give just enough to tick a religious box, or will we do as Israel did that day and give in abundance, whereby they should say to us, stop giving. You're giving to much. See, Israel, they didn't give to tick a religious box. Rather, they chose that day whom they will serve. They've already made the mistake before of choosing the golden calf, and now their repentance is deep and sure. And they are making sure that they choose with their treasure this time who they will serve. They want to demonstrate that there is no other God before them and that they know where the gold truly comes from. Israel's gold didn't come from plundering Egypt. It came from the hand of the living God himself who delivered them from Egypt. And so, in the same way, your gold, it didn't come from your taskmaster, your employer. It came from the hand of God. But you have to ask yourself, do you have another God before him? Who do you serve with your treasure? For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And if you just simply give out of religious obligation because someone told you to, or because you're trying to meet some ceiling, or out of reluctance to tick a box because you have to, your giving is impure and it is defiled because your heart isn't all in with God. Rather, you're sharing your heart with idols, with the things that money can buy instead. See, true fulfillment, true safety, true comfort, and true peace. It doesn't come from what money can buy. My dear western brothers and sisters, we have been blessed in this world with so many material options. But just ask the rich of this world who have tried to fill themselves with all, all the materials that they could get their hands on all the gold in the world, look at the rich and famous and see their dissatisfaction. And look now then also to the supernatural love, power and provision of Yahweh, who gives to his children abundantly in much more than gold, silver and bronze, much more than our families, much more than our possessions, or whatever else blesses us, but with the fellowship of God that satisfies the deepness of our souls. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, the point is, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. When we look at the example of Christ in his own life, his giving to the poor was a part of the righteousness that made up his righteousness, that righteousness that endures forever. Just think about even at the Last Supper, just as he is about to be betrayed by Judas the betrayer. And when he told Judas to depart by saying, what you're about to do, Judas, go and do it quickly. We read in John 13:29 that some at the table of the disciples thought that Jesus was telling Judas to go and buy something for the poor. And this gives us just a little glimpse of the incredible generosity that Yeshua was known by among his disciples and the people as how he was an outpouring of blessing to the poor. That was his righteousness. And what is so beautiful is that the disciples were wrong. Jesus wasn't telling Judas to go and give something to the poor. Rather, he was about to give much more than money, his own life for the poor to have hope of eternal life, salvation, to be in the kingdom, and to live forever with the Father of Lights, who has a special place in his heart for the needy. Yeshua could give in these ways because he knew his Father, and he knew his Father is the provider of all of his needs, not the world. 2 Corinthians 9:10 says, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. So Just as today we can look to Israel's incredible generosity and praise God for it. So God is saying to us that he is blessing us with gold, just as he did Israel in whatever measure he deems fit. And he wants us to use it to become a blessing to others, so that others may praise his name all the same. I want you to see just how generous Israel actually were. You know, it's interesting because God actually gives us numbers here. He wants us to understand the magnitude of this offering. We read in Exodus 38, 24, all the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering from Israel was 29 talents and 730 shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary. So I want us to do just a quick calculation to figure out what this really means. According to the scholars who've looked into these measurements, one talent corresponds to 3,000 shekels. So when he says that there were 29 talents, that brings us to 87,000 shekels. And then he mentions an additional 730 shekels, which brings us to 87,730 shekels. And scholars estimate that one shekel is 11.4 grams of gold. So that means that the 87,700 and 30 shekels equals to approximately one ton of gold. And according to the exchange rate today for gold, which is quite high, it brings us to US$166 million today. But that's not the full picture, because in 1500 BC, in the time of the Exodus, there was way less gold than today. Gold was scarce in comparison. And it also was a time where they did not have modern machinery and technology to extract it from the earth. It was a lot of hand labor. So it's way more expensive to get out of the ground as well. And so now this number of US$166 million, it's a lot, and yet also an underestimation, considering these factors. And we've also not counted the silver and the bronze that they donated in the tabernacle. I'm saying all of this only to give you a picture of the magnitude of this offering that Israel made. And all of this allowed the craftsmen to produce a beautiful tabernacle. The scriptures describe it. And we get this picture of the walls of the rooms being completely overlaid with gold. And that in the holy place, it was dark, except for the light that came from the fires of the golden lampstand, with the light reflecting infinitely across these golden walls, across the golden table of the Showbread and the golden altar of incense and the lid of the Ark of the Covenant was made of a pure solid block of gold crafted with the cherubim. The angelic figures hammered out of the same piece of gold as that slab of the COVID itself. Not to mention the textiles of the many colors and the garden imagery throughout we can only imagine. And in this we see another type of offering. See, it wasn't enough for Israel to give gold and silver. The tabernacle wasn't going to build itself. It took kingdom laborers. It took craftsmen filled by the Spirit using their gifts and talents the Spirit has given them. And God is calling you to use your unique gifts and dreams to advance his kingdom, not just through monetary means, but investing time and energy and talent. After Israel chooses to give abundantly and to build this tabernacle with their gifts and skills, something unprecedented happens. Next, We read in Exodus 40:34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 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. This is incredible because this is the first time since the garden that God has come among the people in the camp of his people. This since the full where Adam and Eve and humanity was kicked out. Now God has come to draw near in a way like never before. This is in response to the people's offering and worship of Him. Brothers and sisters, do you see how important it is? Do you see how important it is for us to be a people who sees nothing as belonging to us, but all as to belonging to the Lord and to worship him with all that we have, without ceilings and without limits, just as the Spirit leads and empowers. See, I want what Israel had. I want the presence of God day and night. I want the fire of God with me by the nighttime. I want the cloud of God with me in the daytime, so that I can become the temple of God in every moment. Because I realize that I can't be the temple of God without God. The beautiful gold and silver and bronze that the temple was built of, it has a great value in this world, and we calculated it out ourselves. But it has no eternal value without God's presence. Similarly, our gold, our silver, bronze, skills, gifts, callings, dreams, it has no eternal value in this world unless the presence of God breathes upon it. So it may become alive for God's work by us investing it according to the Holy Spirit's direction faithfully and cheerfully. See, the prosperity preachers of this world will talk to you about numbers. And that brings up all of these questions of how much should we give? What is enough to give to God? See, I want to submit to you a different message today. The currencies of this world will never be enough. God is looking for the currency of heaven in us Faith. See, a freewill offering isn't about a number, but the condition and outpouring of the heart which will produce the corresponding fruit that is good. God is calling us to take a leap of faith in giving to Him. True faith means I give, I go, I sacrifice, I surrender aspects of my life, whatever that is, in a way that is uncomfortable to my flesh, but absolutely faithful to him. And that will lead to us receiving what Israel received when they laid all bare before him, even knowing they may have no simple way to get it back. But they love him and trust him enough with it. They were rewarded with his presence. Israel had a miraculous transformation because one day they built a golden calf and another day a golden tabernacle. And this radical shift was only possible by a miracle of God in their hearts. See, what we're speaking about here today is not something that can come from you. It's not something that you can muster up. It's something that you have to surrender to and understand that that power can only come from the living God to change your heart and empower your heart as he did Israel. Because if he can do it in their hearts, moving them from idol worshipers to Yahweh worshipers, then he can do it in ours. If we feel like that, we perhaps have a heart of greed instead of generosity. If we realize that we've only given out of compulsion or expectation and not because of a deep desire because we want to, or if our heart is in need of repair because of a poverty mindset we've had which has left us living in fear of loss no matter where we are and what we need. God can heal all of these, but you must place your faith in Him. Surrender and step out in action. Be radically generous with your life, whether it's monetarily, whether it's with skills, whether it's with your dreams, whether it's with your time. Deuteronomy 15:10 says, you shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. In conclusion, brothers and sisters, what if the Exodus 36 miracle repeated what if God's people stepped forth to give so much to the needs that are in our midst that Moses needs to ask us to stop giving for we're giving too much. Hallelujah. What a wonderful thing that could be. What if we could build hospitals, wells and shelters for the poor to take taking care of the widows and the orphans and fund every God fearing ministry to the brim. And when fear comes in, we will say, is our God's hand too short? He is worthy and he is able to provide for us and he lacks nothing. For every beast of the forest is his the cattle on a thousand hills. Brothers and sisters, let us recognize that our Father is a provider, a giver. He is compassionate and I don't know about you, but I want to be like Him. The Tabernacle of God was paneled with gold because Israel sacrificed and the Lord was pleased to dwell there. And in the same way our tabernacles will be paneled with gold when we are willing to sacrifice and the Lord will be pleased to dwell there. Father, I ask that you would come and transform us. Deliver us as you did Israel from their idols. Lord, we surrender our idols to you today, wherever they may be. And Holy Spirit, I ask that you would give us the ability to be generous without reluctance, but sincerely, cheerfully and unknowing that you are our provider. Lord, help us to be known for the generosity just as Yeshua was known for his generosity. Let us be someone who doesn't flaunt our wealth nor our generosity, but quietly gives, quietly meets needs for our Father sees all. Let us be known by heaven as the ones who meet needs. Father, we thank you. Lord, help us to see where the tabernacle is that you're building this day, where you are calling us to give this day. Help us to bring a first fruits offering of this year and let us live a life as a living sacrifice. I pray all this in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Amen. Thank you for joining me. May the Father bless and keep your house. May he shine his face upon you, lift up his countenance upon you, give you and your family his shalom, and multiply your house with his blessings that you may become a blessing. Shalom. Sat.