God had a plan and purpose for His people Israel when He met with Moses at the burning bush. When He came down to meet with Moses, God gave him the assignment to go to Pharaoh and bring His people out to worship Him. They could not achieve God’s purpose and remain in Egypt.
In Exodus 19, God brought them to Sinai to meet with them and show them His glory and presence.
He was bringing them near to Him to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They would be different from any other nation of people. So, God brought them out of Egypt to Himself. God is very jealous over His people and has placed a high value on them and called them His own special treasure.
God has a similar plan for those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 2:9 NKJV But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Almighty sovereign God has a plan and purpose for your life.
Before Abram realized any of God’s blessings, God revealed what He was going to do.
Genesis 12:2-3 NKJV I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God’s plan considered all events and conditions of humanity.
He told Abram events that would occur after he died. God holds all time in His hands and He knows the past, present, and future. The Lord knows the right time for what He has planned. He knows when to bring Abram’s descendants into and out from Egypt.
None of us know how to order or control our future.
Job said: “He knows the way that I take.” (Job 23:10)
The Psalmist said: “In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also.” (Psalms 95:4)
Almighty sovereign God is in control of time and space.
He brought them out of Egypt at the right time, in the right way, with the right possessions. It is important for us to know that God is in control.
God had a plan for Abraham’s descendants!
God was prepared for the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s armies. He had claimed them before they were born.
Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV84“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
What was God’s plan?
At the right time, God would bring them out of Egypt to be His own special people. This was God’s purpose for dealing with them.
God wants to pull every man and woman of God into His presence.
We cannot live like the world and walk in God’s presence. God wants to tabernacle with His people. Part of our fellowship with God is our worship.
God is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. He chose you for worship and fellowship.
When Moses came down from Sinai, he found the golden calf that Aaron had made.
The people God rescued were worshipping a golden calf. After the golden calf was formed they said: “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
In Deuteronomy 5, Moses recited God’s statutes and judgments to Israel.
Deuteronomy 5:6-9 NKJV ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
Isaiah 42:8 NKJV I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
After the people made the golden calf and worshipped it, God was prepared to abandon them.
Exodus 32:9–10 NKJVAnd the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
Moses pleaded with the Lord his God for their lives and told the Lord they were His people. He reminded God of His promises to Abraham. He told the Lord, “the world is watching these people that you brought out of bondage.”
Listen to Moses’ prayer of intercession for Israel.
Exodus 32:31-33 NKJV Then Moses returned to the Lord and said: “Oh these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.”
The people had too much of Egypt in them. They were too familiar with the gods that were the creation of man’s hands.
Exodus 32:34-35 NKJV Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.
Although God is full of love and mercy, we should never forget that He is holy. He cannot dwell with rebellious and sin-filled people. God told Moses to depart and go up to the land He had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was going to keep His promise and give them the land, but He was not going with them.
Exodus 33:3 NKJV Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.
It is not enough to receive God’s blessings if we do not have the blessing of God’s presence with His people.
Exodus 33:5-6 NKJV For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’ ” So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
Their ornaments were associated with Egypt’s gods and the golden calf.
Exodus 33:7 NKJV Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of Meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the Tabernacle of Meeting which was outside the camp.
This was a temporary or provisional Tent of Meeting.
God was upset with them. This is not what God wanted. The symbolism is great. The people wanted God to be with them, but not too close. God does not want to dwell on the outside of your life. When the Tabernacle was built, it was in the middle of the congregation with the 12 tribes camped all around.
When the Tent of Meeting is on the outside, God was not really involved in their lives. They would go outside of their daily routine to meet with God. They were involved in other things. God was on the outside. They were not prepared to fellowship with God. His holiness, glory, and presence frightened them. God was saying: “I am not into the things you are into.” God will be in the center of your life or not at all.
Hebrews 12:18–21 NLT You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai. 19For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking. 20They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
When God came close at Sinai, they were not ready for Him!
He came down in glory, holiness, and power to meet them. The mountain was on fire and blackness and a tempest surrounded the mountain. There was a loud sound of trumpets blowing and Sinai was shaking under God’s presence. The Almighty God Who delivered and sheltered them under His cloud and pillar of fire was very near to His people. In power, God was showing more of His glory than they had known.
The Lord our God is a great and mighty God.
Moses had been on holy ground with God and took off his shoes and heard His voice. Now, God came down in His power, andMoses was exceedingly afraid when God called him up into the mountain. God is greater than your past experience. Moses was going up the mountain to meet God face-to-face. The people were warned to not even touch the foothills of the mountain.
When you worship, remember the Lord our God is holy and powerful.
Moses was exceedingly afraid and trembled.
God was preparing His people for His presence and worship.
They were to wash themselves and their garments, sanctify themselves and be clean. Anything that defiled or was unclean had to be removed. God was preparing a way for them to come and worship Him.
The Exodus was not just to get them out of Egypt and into covenant promises, God was bringing them to Himself.
They were the first church, the ecclesia. The word ecclesia means: “the called out ones.” They were called out to meet and worship God. We have been called out of the world, sin and darkness to serve the Living God.
Once they were called and separated, God made preparations for the Tabernacle.
Exodus 25:1–9 NKJV 1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2“Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 5ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 6oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
God told them to give willingly and then He required specific things they were to “willingly give.”
God has a purpose for giving. When we come to worship, we must bring something that has purpose. David said: “I will not offer to the Lord my God that which cost me nothing.”
When you are invited to someone’s house for a meal, you ask: “Can I bring something?” You want to bring something that has a purpose. You don’t want to bring that three day old moldy pizza.
They willingly gave their wealth to God. They have seen God’s glory and power and willingly committed their possessions for His purpose and vision. God was not going to have them build the Tabernacle unless they committed to building it. God did not need their gifts. He established the earth and made all of the gold, silver and precious things. The people gave willingly with all their heart. If they were to have a place to meet and worship God, they must give from their heart. It cost everyone something to build the Tabernacle.
If we are going to meet with God, it will cost something.
God is ready to give heaven’s riches. He is ready to give you double for all your trouble. He is going to come down and have fellowship with you. He wants to dwell in the midst of His people.
