Exodus Chapter 36

• Exodus 36:1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.

Even though the old priesthood under the law was done away with at the coming of Jesus Christ, we see here a glimpse of God's provision. He gives both natural gifts and spiritual gifts. God knows what He is doing. He is not going to give someone wisdom and understanding in some capacity and then call someone else who He has not given those abilities into the that particular service.

Some women are are inclined to work with their hands in sewing, quilting, baking and such and once in a while we run into women who have no inclination into those things and yet they sometimes feel guilty about it. Some woman like deep bible study for instance and enjoy discussing the bible and even teaching the bible, yet they sometimes feel cast aside whether by their own imagination or real experience from others and are pressured into thinking they have to do the Martha type of work to be accepted by God.

I love the story of Mary and Martha because it shows us that some of us are like Mary. We prefer to get into the deeper things of God which Jesus said, was the "good part." Notice in the New Testament that the gifts of the spirit are poured out upon women as well as men. She just wasn't supposed to use her new found freedom in the Lord to usurp authority over her husband.

If a woman is given authority to teach or preach for instance, then she is not usurping any authority. Usurping is taking over by force. A woman appointed to a teaching position is not doing that. None of us are supposed to misuse and abuse the freedom we have in Christ. We are all the same in Christ, there is neither male or female in that respect but to have peace and order in our society, we must have godly leadership ordained of God. We must not usurp authority that is not given to us.

The gifts are given to us to edify fellow believers. They are not given for us to exalt ourselves over other believers or to usurp authority over the leadership that God has appointed over us. In saying this though, I don't want to discourage the receiving of God's spiritual gifts. We rely too much on "someone else" or on well known famous people to be used of God and less on the small local body of believers to minister to one another in the gifts of the spirit. A church was never meant to be a "one man show" or a large "paid staff" to do all the worship for us.

Before Christ though and under the law they had to do things that way because the way to be made free from sin had not yet be established. They could not just waltz into the presence of God unprepared and without reverence. They had to have order and do all things in a certain holy order. This pointed toward that perfect one to come. Just as there was only one way to do thing under the law, there is only one way of salvation and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Without looking to Him (Jesus) for our salvation, there is no salvation.

This latter day teaching that there is more than one way to God is a lie that will destroy many souls. If there was another way to be saved other than through Jesus Christ, then Jesus would not have had to suffer such a horrible death. He actually took the punishment for sin that we committed. He did no sin Himself. He was innocent and didn't deserve to die for sins. If he would have sinned just once, He could never have been pure enough to die for our sins.

The lambs used in the Old Testament sacrifices had to be without spot or wrinkle. Jesus had to die without sin so that His death could count for on our behalf. We can enter into eternal life because of His paying the price for our sin. The catch is that we have to receive this. We can't "not believe" and not receive His cleansing and forgiveness and then expect to be saved. That is why no other religion can save. In fact no religion can save us from sin. Only trusting in Christ can do that. It is not by religious orders or religious works but by the righteousness of Christ covering us can we be saved. He does it all. Our part is to turn away from sin (repent) and turn to Christ for salvation. There is no other way.

• Exodus 36:2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:
• 3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.

People freely gave for the purpose of the service of the sanctuary. It was freely given from the heart. I believe in giving tithes for instance but I believe that the Lord is pleased when we give from our own freewill and from within our innermost being. How much better it is to give because we love than to give because we feel obligated or we are afraid of being cursed if we do not give. When we give in love for the Lord or give because we have compassion on the poor, it is really fun to give.

• Exodus 36:4 And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;
• 5 And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.
• 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.
• 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

We see here the correct purpose and pattern for giving. They were not to give to make someone rich. As soon as they had enough, the people were commanded to stop giving at least for that particular purpose.

• Exodus 36:8 And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.

God is not against beauty for He created beauty. He is not against color for He created color. What we must avoid is pride that exalts ourselves above others who have less than we have. It is the pride
that is wrong not pretty colorful things we may enjoy using for decorations and such.

• Exodus 36:9 The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size.
• 10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another.
• 11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
• 12 Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another.
• 13 And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.
• 14 And he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them.
• 15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size.
• 16 And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
• 17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.
• 18 And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one.
• 19 And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that.
• 20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up.
• 21 The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half.
• 22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.
• 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:
• 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
• 25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,
• 26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
• 27 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.
• 28 And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
• 29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners.
• 30 And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets.
• 31 And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
• 32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward.
• 33 And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other.
• 34 And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
• 35 And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work.
• 36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.
• 37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework;
• 38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.

Everything was done precisely according to the pattern shown to Moses. This was patterned after heavenly things. Everything was for a purpose and nothing was to be flawed. Everything had to be perfect just like the perfect way of salvation had to be put in place in order for anyone to be saved and inherit eternal life. If everything had to be done to perfection, what makes us think that there are other ways of salvation other than through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even after they set up the tabernacle and made everything perfect, the people themselves were not perfect. If we do all we know to do and live as perfectly as we know to live it wouldn't be good enough to enter Heaven. We cannot earn our way to Heaven by our own works. It would be impossible. We see here the order and perfection that they had to do before God could dwell in their midst. Everything had to be perfect. In order to enter heaven and have eternal life, we have to be perfect. We can't sin even once or else it would be ruined and our souls would be lost for eternity. That is why we had to have one that was perfect come in our place. Jesus Christ was that one. It had to be a flesh and blood man like we are flesh. Man caused the first sin and brought death upon us all, so only man could reverse that curse but he had to be perfect and without sin. This means it would have to be God. So God sent His own Son. God became flesh, God the Son became a man but lived without sin. He was perfect.

Most of us would never know how to defend ourselves in a court of law so we have to hire a good lawyer. We do not know how to live and please God so someone had to come and fulfill the law perfectly. Not one iota could be changed. It had to be done perfectly without any error or sin. Someone kept the law for us. A law that we could not keep. The death penalty both physically and eternally is imposed for just one sin.

We have all broken the law of God at one time or another in our lifetime unless we die as babies.
All of us have sinned. We can't enter eternal life by our own works, no way. Jesus did it for us. To claim this eternal life for ourselves, we simply receive Jesus into our lives. We believe in Him and
what He came to do. We partake of His holiness because we do not have any perfect holiness in ourselves. We can't do it ourselves, we need Him to do it for us. We have no righteousness in ourselves, we need to be covered by His righteousness. That which was perfect is come, the perfect one will yet return to set up His kingdom and just like we could do nothing in ourselves to be saved from sin and inherit eternal life, we cannot set up Christ's kingdom until He literally returns Himself. He has to set it up, we can't.

So what do we do in the meantime? We spread the gospel. We tell this good news of God's eternal salvation to all that we can. We can't use force, that is a waste of time. We must tell. We must speak.

Jesus told the Jews that if they refused to believe that He is the one God sent to save them, they would die in their sins.

• John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

That is why faith in Jesus is the only way of salvation. It is the only thing that will free us from sin and the condemnation that comes as a result of our sin. There is no other way, no matter what anyone else says. Believe the bible, not the words of men (women). If there had been another way, God would never have allowed His own Son to suffer such a death for He did not deserve to die that way.

• John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
• 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

If we believe upon Him, we will be filled with HIs Holy Spirit, the living water that He speaks of in John 7 and also to the woman at the well in chapter 4. DC

• John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

NO OTHER WAY

• Acts 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
• 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
• 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Exodus Chapter 37

Exodus Index