to the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles. We find ourselves in chapter 7, Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin or the council, the highest religious and political council of men in Israel at that particular time. Remember that in chapter 6, Stephen had been falsely charged. Men said, according to chapter 6.11, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

They formalized the charges in chapter 6 at verse 13. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us." So two fundamental charges laid against Stephen, that he was anti-Moses and that he was anti-law, or rather anti-temple. And so, he spends the bulk of his time defending himself with reference to this charge that he's anti-Moses.

We have finished up that section. It begins in chapter 17 and runs to verse... I'm sorry, verse 17 to verse 43. It speaks of Moses specifically, and now he turns his attention primarily to defending the charge that he's anti-Temple.

So, I want to read beginning in chapter 7 at verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says.

Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these things?

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at Him with their teeth. But He, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look, I see the heavens open down the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord.

And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Our Father, we thank You for the written Word. We thank You that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray this morning that as we survey Your Word, as we study Your Word, You would impart blessing to us. that the Holy Spirit would come, that He would guide us, that He would lead us, that He would direct us into that truth that is written before us, that we would again have the forgiveness of sins and anything that would darken our understanding. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Introduction: Stephen's Defense Strategy

So, remember Stephen's tactic in terms of defense. He doesn't simply say, no, I'm not anti-Moses, and no, I'm not anti-Temple. But rather, he lets their scriptures and their history demonstrate that. He cites the history of Israel in terms of redemption, and he cites their own word, their own scripture, to show that it's not Stephen that is anti-Moses and anti-Temple.

Rather, it is his accusers. It is the Council. It is the Sanhedrin. Moses and the Law pointed to the Lord Jesus.

The Temple pointed to the Lord Jesus. The Council, rejecting Jesus, made themselves anti-Moses and anti-Temple. That's Stephen's tact for them to see that through their own history and scriptures. Now they understand his point, they simply do not agree with him.

That's why they send him out of the city, or rather drive him out of the city, and they execute him, they murder him, they kill him. Kids, if you don't understand what's happening at the end of this particular section, that's precisely what happens. Stephen stands up, he argues from their scriptures, they can't agree, and so they take him outside the city, they take up big stones, and they throw them at him, until he is a dead man. So the martyrdom of Stephen we'll consider in the coming weeks, but this morning I want to look specifically at the tabernacle in verses 44 and 45.

Now, I have spent a lot of time going through this particular defense of Stephen, because as I explained, it's a window for us to seek to understand the Old Testament. If you don't understand or you're not a reader of the Old Testament, Stephen's speech is a good place to start. Stephen is summarizing, again, not for their instruction, but rather to make his point. But I want to look at it for our instruction because there is that need for all of us to be skilled in and well-versed in the Old Testament Scriptures.

But in verses 44 to 50, essentially what you have is the reference to tabernacle and temple. We see the tabernacle of witness in verses 44 and 45, which we're going to take up this morning. Secondly, you see the temple of the God of Jacob in verses 46 and 47. And then finally, Stephen ends his sermon with this testimony of the prophet Isaiah in verses 48 to 50.

Again, I was reminded by one of the commentators who suggests that Stephen didn't finish his speech. Stephen most certainly did finish his speech. Stephen answers the charges. He's not anti-Moses, and he's certainly not anti-Temple, but rather the council are both.

And as a result, they murder and execute him. So let's look at verses 44 and 45, as it will take us to the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and as well to the book of Joshua. So

Sermon Overview and Outline

I want to look at two things this morning. First, the tabernacle in the wilderness, verse 44, and then secondly, the tabernacle in the promised land in verse 45. But with reference to the tabernacle in the wilderness, there are three things we ought to appreciate. First, the command to build the tabernacle.

Secondly, I want to look at the purpose of the tabernacle. And then thirdly, the completion of the tabernacle. We're going to spend time on this theme because it's most important. Tabernacle and temple mean dwelling.

And the reality that the God of absolute sovereignty would want to dwell with the likes of us ought to blow our minds. That Genesis begins with God dwelling with his creatures and the book of Revelation ends with God dwelling with his creatures is really something that should marvel us or cause us to marvel and stand amazed that that God would want to be with the likes of you and me. That is a major emphasis or theme in scripture. God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself so that there'll be this great church amassed, the church triumphant that will dwell in the presence of Yahweh, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity.

So it's important for us to get this concept in our head, God's dwelling with his people.

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

Note in the first place

The Command to Build the Tabernacle

the command to build the tabernacle. So Stephen says in verse 44, our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he, God, appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Now, this is an obvious contrast with the temple of Moloch or the tabernacle of Moloch. Notice back in verse 42.

Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch. And so when Stephen says that they had the tabernacle of witness, the very thing that God appointed, that God commanded, in order for God to meet with His people, this exacerbates or highlights or demonstrates further their sin and corruption.

They had the very tabernacle of witness that God had ordained, and yet they turned themselves to this tabernacle of Moloch. They have the God of unrivaled, unparalleled, unmatched sovereignty and glory, and they are chasing after and have gone a-whoring after Moloch, after Baal, after the deities of the ancient Near East. So what Stephen is saying to them is that this nation as a whole has big problems, and it's culminated here in the first century in the fact that the council, or Sanhedrin, and men like them didn't receive Jesus, the one that was sent to them. the one that was the altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. So God had purpose that they would have this, and it's identified as the tabernacle of witness.

Again, I'm assuming that you at least know what a tabernacle and a temple are, that you've at least read something in the Old Testament. The tabernacle was a movable thing where the people of God would meet with their God. It becomes stationary at the temple. It's no longer movable.

It's no longer contained in a tent. But rather, once David consolidates power, once David makes Jerusalem the center of not only political but religious affairs in Israel, according to the written word of God that there'd be a central sanctuary, David wants to build the temple that Stephen mentions, but it ultimately comes under Solomon. And so it's this stationary place where the people of Israel come with sacrifice to meet with the living and true God. But prior to that stationary temple, they had this tabernacle.

And there were specific rules, and there were procedures, and there was a whole host of things that went into putting this thing up so that the people could sacrifice, they could offer, and they could meet with God. And so Stephen is highlighting this for them, again, leading to this testimony of the prophet Isaiah that Yahweh is not confined by these things. God may have, in the past, revealed himself in this manner, that his visible presence is seen in the tabernacle and temple. But the Jews thought that exhausted the presence of God.

They thought that box contained God. And that is where they were wrong. And they thought that as long as the temple was standing, God was in this place. That's not the way it ought to have been understood.

And Stephen gets this, and Stephen is pressing this upon them. But it's identified as the tabernacle of witness. Matthew Poole says here it is called the Tabernacle of Witness because God here testified or witnessed His glorious presence and especially because in it the Ark of the Covenant, the Law and the Testimony were kept. Now you can turn back to Exodus chapter 25.

Exodus chapter 25. You have the command by God given on building this tabernacle. This takes up the latter part of the book of Exodus. If you ever wanna know what Exodus is about, just learn 3D words.

God delivers Israel, God demands from Israel, and then God dwells with Israel. Deliverance is obviously the Exodus. Demand is obviously the law from 19 to 24. And then dwelling is 25 to 40.

The first section, he gives the instructions on how to build the tabernacle. And the latter part shows the actual construction of the tabernacle. And so God demands that the people of Israel make this tabernacle. And as Stephen says, our fathers had this in the wilderness.

The Purpose of the Tabernacle

Now notice, secondly, the purpose of the tabernacle. The purpose of the tabernacle, it's spelled out in Exodus 25 at verse 8. God says, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. And I think that we as New Covenant believers, we as Christians take this for granted.

We just sort of read through passages like these and we say, oh yeah, that's just the way it is. God is dwelling among them. God, most high, dwells among the most low. God, altogether glorious, comes and dwells with those who are altogether inglorious.

God who is holy, holy, holy, whose eye is too pure to look approvingly upon any evil, deals with man in such a way that he can now dwell in their midst. You see, this is the purpose behind tabernacle according to Exodus 25, 8. Turn over to Exodus 29. You see this again specified in verses 45 and 46.

Verse 45, I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord, their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord, their God. It's good for us at times to just take a step back and realize God's dwelling with us.

See, in the New Covenant, it's the church of Jesus Christ, according to the apostle in Ephesians chapter 2. What does Paul tell us in 1 Timothy 3 in terms of the church? It is the house of God. God makes His abode with His people in situations very similar to this.

In other words, God is in this place. He is dwelling among us. That ought to cause our hearts to soar and to race, and it ought to cause us, as far as it is able with us, to be in the house of God. This is why David said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord.

Why? Because it's the house of the Lord. What's better than that? What's more glorious?

We have been invited, nay, conquered in such a way that we are brought in to the very house of God himself. This is the purpose behind tabernacle. But as the apostle tells us in the book of Hebrews, both the tabernacle and the temple were typological. In other words, they pointed forward to something, and they pointed forward to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I think that's Stephen's point invoking this history. Now that Jesus Christ is here, we don't go back to tabernacle, we don't go back to temple, but rather we have him who is the temple. We have him who is, in fact, the house of God and the one who leads us into that house of God, which is the whole point of temple. Now notice, Thirdly, the completion of the tabernacle, Exodus chapter 40.

Now, whether Stephen wanted us to do all this or not, I doubt. As I said, I don't think Stephen is instructing his hearers. They knew their history. Stephen is making a point to defend himself of the charges and to show those men that they were the ones that were guilty of being anti-Moses and anti-Temple.

But for our purposes, this is a great window, Stephen's speech, to sort of get an appreciation of what's happening here in the Old Testament.

The Completion of the Tabernacle

Now notice in Exodus chapter 40, we see the completion of the tabernacle. Verse 33, he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Now notice, we see God's dwelling.

We see God's dwelling. Notice in verse 34, then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. An old black spiritual that says, heaven came down and glory filled my soul, filled my soul. We used to sing it at a Bible tabernacle that we used to preach at.

And it was glorious to sing that. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, filled my soul. That's what's happening here at the end of Exodus. They finished the construction of the tabernacle.

Yahweh most high now is dwelling in this tabernacle. God has made His abode among men. God is present in this place. But notice, there's a particular problem.

Moses, verse 35, was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Now, you need to let that sink in, because Moses was the godliest man in Israel. Moses was the God-ordained ruler, the God-ordained deliverer. He was the one that the Lord had raised up in a special and peculiar way to lead his people out of bondage.

And yet this godliest man, Moses, can't enter into the tabernacle. You see, Exodus ends with tension. Exodus ends with us sort of hanging in the air. We've got this dwelling place now.

God has taken up residence, but the holiest man, even Moses, can't enter into the presence. That's what the book of Leviticus is all about. It solves that problem. It provides a solution to that tension.

You need to get this framework and understand that the Bible isn't just haphazardly thrown together, that the books of the Pentateuch have rhyme and reason. There's cohesiveness and there is connectivity. And so Exodus ends with this tension that the book of Leviticus is tasked with resolving. And quite frankly, it resolves it this way.

In the first place, in Leviticus 1 and 2, we learn that it's based on God's Word. In other words, how do we resolve attention when it comes to God? We do it through His Word. We do it through His instruction.

We do it according to His mind and His will. We're not smart enough to figure this out. We're too sinful to figure this out. We need the written word in order to provide that solution to us.

And then in the second place,

Leviticus: Entering God's Presence

the book of Leviticus specifies how men enter into the very presence of God. It is through sacrifice. So please just maybe nod. I don't know if everybody's following me.

I'm trying to make this very simple. Tension at the end of the book of Exodus. God now dwells in the midst of Israel, but they haven't been able to meet with God yet. If the purpose of God is that I dwell in their midst, there's a reciprocity.

It's not just that God is there, but God wants Israel to be with Him where He is. But when the glory of Yahweh fills that tabernacle, the holiest man in Israel can't enter in because of his own sinfulness. And so the prescription comes in Leviticus chapters 1 to 9. You need to enter in through sacrifice.

You need to enter in through a bloody knife and a burning altar. You need to enter in as a result of God's having expiated your sin. In other words, sinful man doesn't just wander into the presence of a holy God. Something must happen.

There must be forgiveness. There must be atonement. There must be blood. This is why in Hebrews chapter 9, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission.

This is why we don't just preach morality as Christians. This is why we don't just preach virtue. We don't just go out and tell people, be a better you. The problem is they're miserable wretches that stand liable to the wrath and fury and curse of God Almighty.

There's no encouragement to be a better you in somehow thinking that's going to commend people to God. We preach Christ crucified, Paul says, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are being saved, Christ the wisdom and the power of God. You see, brethren, we are not moralists.

We are not about virtue. And that's why any, any insistence, like the one man in the history of the church has gone on record saying, you know, always preach the gospel and when necessary or when you're able, use words. The only way you can preach the gospel is through your words. Men don't learn blood atonement through your virtue.

Men don't learn substitutionary atonement through your virtue. Arguably, you don't have a whole lot of virtue to begin with, but secondly, if you did, it doesn't preach the necessity of the blood of Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins. See, Israel is being taught the pathway to a holy God is not every head bowed and every hand raised. It's through the cross.

It's through Calvary. If you're not a believer here this morning, the message that I have for you is not go out and try harder, go out and be better. Joel Osteen can tell you that, Tony Robbins can tell you that, and they can tell it a whole lot better than I can. My emphasis has always been, and I hope will always be, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must also the Son of Man be lifted up. What was the point? God sent snakes to bite the grumbling, whining Israelites. Have you ever thanked God that He no longer does that?

Because we'd have a lot of snakes in our lives, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we? We whine a lot, brethren. We complain a lot.

We've grown a lot. Well, they did that in the wilderness, so God sent fiery serpents to bite them. What was the remedy? Moses, make a brazen serpent, lift it up, and when they look, they'll live.

Not when they drag themselves over to it and kiss it, not when they suck the poison out and add that to their look, but they look and live. The gospel isn't about you try a little bit better, you do a little bit more, you get a little bit higher up on the social scale. No, you look and live. Don't try to suck the poison out of your own leg.

You're certainly not fit and capable to do such things. You need Christ, the one alone that relieves the poison in our bodies. But notice, back in our text, in terms of the approach to God, one man says, the book of Exodus closes with a tension that is not resolved. After the completion of Israel's sanctuary, Moses is not allowed inside the tent, specifically because the ladder is filled with the divine presence.

In other words, although He is present among His people as promised in 25.8 and 29.45, Yahweh cannot be approached, even by Moses, and the gap between God and man remains insuperable. After Exodus 40, Leviticus 1-10 recounts the gradual abolishment of this gap. The next time you as a New Covenant Christian are reading through Leviticus chapters 1 to 9, and you start to raise your eyebrow and go, man, this seems to be overly pedantic and a bit boring. This is how they entered in to the very presence of God.

This was the preaching of the gospel. This typified the cross. This pointed them to Messiah. This showed them the way to a holy God, and the language is Morales in a wonderful little book called, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?

Morales does a biblical theology of the book of Leviticus, and he highlights that blessed fact that Israel learned the way to Yahweh was through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's Christ, brethren. Christ is in Leviticus. Now, notice in Leviticus chapter 9.

We won't actually read Leviticus 1 to 9. It'd be a long time. And I would imagine someone would say, okay, we get it. They needed the sacrifice.

Notice what happens in Leviticus 9.22. Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people and blessed them and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting. See that terminology?

It was the tabernacle where God dwelt. The end of Exodus chapter 40, we see God dwelling. Now we see God being met with. Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. It was glorious. It was wondrous.

It was awesome. It would be great if that kind of a spirit infested itself or infected our own hearts when we gathered into the very presence of God. There's this shout for joy. Why?

Because God is here among us. Heaven has come down and glory has filled our souls. Brethren, I think we can tell a lot about Christianity by how people treat corporate worship. If it's a necessary evil, if it's something that we just have to do, if it's this sort of chore that sort of punctuates the end of the week, that's not good.

More so, the spirit of David is to be sought and coveted after. Oh, I was glad when they said, when that alarm clock goes off on Sunday morning, it's not, oh no, oh, how terrible. I don't want to go to the house of God. No, you get this image of David popping out of his bed, going to the tea, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, and he's ready to go.

He says things like, I'd rather be a doorkeeper at the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. He extols what God thinks concerning corporate worship when he says, Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Don't think God hates the dwelling places of Jacob. He's not anti-family.

But he loves it when the people of God gather together as the Zion of God, and they sing his praises, they pray unto him, and they rally around his word. They are joyful at the reality that God is in their midst. They don't sing, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. They sing it with gusto and delight in it.

And that is precisely what we find. Now, if you continue in the narrative, Nadab and Abihu offer up strange fire in Leviticus chapter 10.

Nadab, Abihu, and Regulative Worship

Notice what happens here, because this is another problem that needs to be solved. Verse 1, chapter 10, then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. Another principle I'd like to think that the church would get. We are not supposed to be innovative in the worship of God.

In fact, there's a particular text in Exodus, in terms of tabernacle making, that Moses is supposed to do exactly what God says. Notice that Moses is not told how he's to decorate Moses' house. God doesn't say, hey, Moses, I want you to have the couch over here. I want you to have your sink over here.

He doesn't do that. It's the regulative principle of worship. He tells Moses that you are not to deviate. You are not to be creative.

You are not to be innovative, Moses, but you're to be obedient. John Gill makes the observation, which teaches us It's in Exodus 25, 40, that everything in matters of worship ought to be according to the rule which God has given, from which we should never swerve in the least. You wonder what Moses would think at some of the swerving that goes on today in evangelical and even in reformed worship. I mean, thankfully, Moses doesn't come down and fill our souls.

Thankfully, Moses doesn't come down and join with us to some degree. We're not supposed to swerve. We're not supposed to be creative. This is one area where God doesn't want you creative.

He doesn't want you innovative. He wants you obedient. Again, when the church gets this, we'll see or be able to sing, glory has come down and heaven has filled our soul. You mean that Paul and the Apostles didn't envision the, you know, chatty pastors with their hands in their pockets and the latte in their hand?

Or a repelling pastor that comes down with his headgear and he's, you know, able to do all the sorts of things that Spider-Man does? You mean that's unauthorized? I most certainly mean it's unauthorized. Notice what happens with Nadab and Abihu.

They offer up profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." You have to see the marked contrast between chapters 9 and 10. In chapter nine, they offer up sacrifice that God had ordained. They do it in the correct way.

Fire comes down, consumes the sacrifice, glory fills the place, and everybody rejoices and shouts. In this instance, they bring profane fire. So fire comes out again from Yahweh, but it devours them. And they died before the Lord.

And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke saying. Again, a good lesson that everybody today needs to internalize. By those who come near me, I must be regarded holy and before all the people I must be glorified one man is well observed that much of evangelicalism today we we'd rather saying that God is altogether nice nice nice versus holy holy holy now

The Day of Atonement

how is this problem resolved Leviticus 16 Leviticus 16 We know that Leviticus 16 is connected to chapter 10 by virtue of verses one and two. Notice in Leviticus 16, one. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron, your brother, not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy sea, which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy sea.

Now, persons typically think there are one of three reasons why God killed Nadab and Abihu. One, probably the most obvious, is that they offered profane fire before the Lord. The second is that they were under the influence of intoxicating drink at the time. If you continue in Leviticus chapter 10, there's a reference to that.

And some suggest that Nadab and Abihu might have tipped a little bit, and then they went in there, and because of their perversion, God smote them, God killed them. But Leviticus 16 too tells us Not saying it's okay to tip a little bit and go into the service of God. Certainly not suggesting at all it's okay to offer up profane fire before the Lord. All those things are bad, but here's what I think the particular offense was.

Nadab and Abihu went into the Holy of Holies without the sanction of God. Isn't that what verse 2 tells us? Notice what he says. Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil.

Remember that the tabernacle was a two compartment dwelling. There was a holy place and then a holy of holies. The Holy of Holies was entered into one time a year, and that's what Leviticus 16 is all about. It's the Day of Atonement, and the only time that the high priest would enter into that Holy of Holies was that Day of Atonement with the requisite blood.

There's a ceremony prescribed here in Leviticus chapter 16, teaching Israel how to deal with this kind of pollution, this kind of sin. The high priest goes in probably three or four times, sprinkles blood on the mercy seat, which is in the Holy of Holies. And then Israel has one more goat, a living goat. And the high priest takes his hand, lays it on the goat, probably presses it on the goat, confesses the sins of Israel, and then drives that goat out into the wilderness.

It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ removes our sin. I mean, what a lesson that would have been to the faithful Israelites.

I'm sure some treated it as just some rite or some external or some form that they didn't have a heart for. But to the faithful in Israel, watching that scapegoat run out into the wilderness was a glorious picture of my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. You see, Israel is taught that in order to dwell with God or meet with God, you must come through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's what the book of Leviticus is all about.

Morales says, after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, this entrance into the tabernacle, holy of holies, represents the nearest human approach to God's presence. Consequently, this festival was understood both as a day of judgment and a day of reconciliation. Cleansing God's house of the pollution caused by Israel's uncleanness was the main focus of the ceremony, with the ultimate purpose of maintaining God's tabernacling presence in their midst. So if you ever, as a New Covenant reader, read the book of Leviticus, before you say, oh, this is boring, remember that this is how they stayed in touch with the living and the true God.

They would have read this the way we read Romans. They would have responded to this the way that we respond to the Gospel of Matthew. They would have read this the way that we respond to the Passion Narrative. Again, not the faithless, but the faithful, because in it they saw this is the means by which we dwell in the presence of Yahweh.

Now,

The Tabernacle in the Promised Land

Stephen goes on. He speaks about that tabernacle of witness going with the fathers into the wilderness. And that takes us to the book of, not only at the end of Deuteronomy, but also Joshua specifically. And if you have the King James Bible, in chapter 7, verse 45, he refers to Jesus as the one who brings the children of Israel into the promised land.

Well, Jesus and Joshua are the same name in Greek. Yahweh is salvation. Joshua certainly functions typologically. Joshua certainly is that deliverer, that conqueror, that one that takes the people from one place to another through his power, through his leadership, and through his victorious reign.

But if you look at the book of Joshua, you can turn there, Joshua chapter 1. So if anybody ever says, how could the pastor preach on only verses 44 and 45? Well, he used them as a window so that we could look at some of these Old Testament books that perhaps we're not as familiar with as we should be.

The Book of Joshua: Structure and Theme

But if you notice specifically the book of Joshua, it's very clearly laid out. It's all about them entering the land, taking the land, dividing the land, and retaining the land. That's it. If you want to know how to quickly and simply summarize the book of Joshua, in fact, chapter 21 gives you that very outline.

It's about them entering, taking, dividing, and keeping. That's what the book of Joshua is charged with saying. And so Stephen's point is, is that when they went into the promised land, they went with the tabernacle. They went with this tabernacle of witness, represented by the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant was the primary element that went into this tabernacle, into the Holy of Holies. And in Joshua chapter 3, as they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, they do so in sight of the Ark of the Covenant. What's it symbolize? What does it represent?

It represents that God is with us. We're not on a fool's errand here. We're not going in based on our military superiority. We're not going in against these Canaanites based on our supreme weaponry.

We're going in as the children of God Most High. And it's that God Most High that is going to dispossess these enemies from the land, and He's going to give us this property in accordance with the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You see how all of this works together and all of this typifies or shows forth to our Lord Jesus. The apostles in the New Testament everywhere speak to these types.

They show how it's all representative of something to come in New Covenant era under Jesus the Lord, under the Messiah, under the King that God would send. And here, specifically, they go into the Promised Land with the Ark of the Covenant in view. Now, in terms of the Ark of the Covenant, that's an interesting sort of study as well. Before it's ultimately in Jerusalem, it's typically in various places.

Remember, it's a movable thing. The children of Israel are somewhat wanderers at this particular point, so they have this movable tent wherein they can house the Ark of the Covenant. It pretty much rests in Shiloh for the most part. There's an instance in 1 Samuel 4, we're going to look at actually tonight, where the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines.

And the reason I want to look at that is to try and show that Israel did treat these things as idols. This really wasn't Stephen, you know, just pontificating saying, you guys got big problems. This was the history of Israel. It's kind of the history of us.

God gives us good things and we turn the good thing into God. God says, yeah, you can have food. We eat too much. God says, you can do this.

We do it too much. God says, you can have this. We do it too much. Well, they had something that was good that God had ordained and given to them.

It was by His sovereign appointment. And yet they made that the end. They did it in 1 Samuel chapter 4. They'll do it again throughout their history.

And that's what Stephen is pressing upon their consciences. But ultimately, it rests in a particular house until the time of David, and then David gets it in 2 Samuel 6 and brings it to Jerusalem. Now, that's kind of the history of the Ark of the Covenant, of the tabernacle. Now,

God Drove Them Out: Divine Conquest

notice what Stephen also says, and this is imperative for us to appreciate. I know we've done a lot this morning. We're gonna wind this down as we move to the end of Stephen's section here on the tabernacle. But notice what he says in verse 45, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David." I don't think Stephen's emphasis is that God was driving out Canaanites until the days of David.

It wasn't the case that all the Canaanites were gone, but I think Stephen's point is, is that this tabernacle that they had, this movable tent, this Ark of the Covenant, was in use by our fathers. Notice Stephen appeals to that this way still. Our fathers, our shared history, our shared scriptures. It was in use until the days of David.

And that's when he introduces David as the one who had this desire to build a house for Yahweh, but it would ultimately be Solomon that does it. But the point I want to emphasize here is a point that we neglect to our peril. Notice in verse 45, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers. God drove them out.

You see, brothers and sisters, my emphasis to you on reading the Old Testament, studying the Old Testament, it's not simply so you can appreciate the history of Israel. It's not simply so you can appreciate Israel's cult. And by that, I don't mean Jehovah's Witness, the religious structure by which they entered in to the presence of God. But I always encourage this for the comfort of your soul, for the encouragement of your heart.

You don't fight the various battles in your life in your own strength. What's Paul say to us in dealing with our own personal sin? I don't want to moralize, you know, our giants or our Canaanites or all that sort of thing, but I think there's a parallel that we ought to observe. If by the Spirit you do mortify the deeds of the body, you will live.

Why would we try to fight sin, resist sin, deal with temptation, deal with the struggles of our lives in a Bible-less and prayer-less manner? Why would we think there'd be any victory in Jesus if we are negligent with reference to the corporate means of grace? Why would we think we're gonna have victory over a particular loss in our hearts if we steadily and consistently resist the things that God has given for our good? You see, brethren, we learn that very vividly in the physical, in the carnal, I don't mean carnal in the sinful way, but in the carnality of the physicality of Israel.

You seek God's aid, God's assistance, God's strength. You see him bear forth his mighty right arm. And this is what Stephen says. It wasn't them.

It wasn't our fathers. It wasn't their competency that rid the land of the Canaanites. It was our God. It was our Yahweh.

It was the one who promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's the one who makes good on his promise. He tells Moses in Exodus 33, 1 to 3, that I'm going to drive these ites out from before you. He reiterates this in Deuteronomy chapter 32 at verse 49.

He tells Moses to look upon the land that they're going to receive. Moses is no fool. The children of Israel are no fools. They know there are Canaanites in the land.

They know that for them to take possession of the land, and I don't want to offend, I don't want to, you know, I'm giving you a trigger warning, but they know they need to go in and kill people in order to take the land. They know they're doing it in the strength of Jehovah. See, our task is not holy war in terms of Deuteronomy 7. Our task as new covenant believers is not, you know, utterly dispossess Abbotsford of all the Abbotsfordians.

That's not what we're called to do. Or conversely, really, Abbotsfordians don't try to dispossess Chilliwack of its Chilliwackians. That would be horrible. We don't want you to do that.

But our task is nevertheless dependent upon the strong arm of God. Our task is the church. Doesn't Jesus reiterate this? In fact, if you look at Joshua 1 and Matthew 28, it's hard to miss the parallels.

Joshua on the verge of entering into the promised land. How does God encourage him? Be of good courage and know that I am with you. What's Jesus saying in terms of our entrance into the land of promise, in terms of the conquest given to the church?

He says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So the argument here is very clearly that when you look at these Old Testament passages, you see the strong arm of Yahweh gaining victory for his people, sending out the Perizzites, driving out the Hivites, driving out the Hittites. But that same God is our God.

That same Jehovah is our Jehovah. That same Lord is our Savior. And if we have need, if we have issues, we have challenges, we're supposed to go to that God. It's not untoward to take God's book of promises to him and say, Lord, the way you drove out those parasites from the land, would you give me the aid and the assistance and the power of the Holy Spirit to get rid of this parasite from my heart?

You see, we have this same living and true God, and this is what Stephen is highlighting here for them. God drove them out. Turn back to the book of Joshua for just a moment. Joshua 3 to 12 is actually the conquest.

It's where the people of Israel go to these various parts. They engage on campaign after campaign after campaign. Just one, actually. Look at Joshua 10.

Joshua chapter 10. This is a southern campaign. Joshua 10, 1 to 43. We see there's this Amorite coalition, and we see that they have to go and do things that pretty much outside of their ability.

Remember that Israel in Egypt didn't just make weaponry. Israel in Egypt didn't just hone their military skills. It wasn't a training camp for them going into the promised land. They were agrarian people.

They were a simple folk. They weren't the kinds of people that were necessarily equipped for battle. If they're going to go into the promised land and dispossess the nation or dispossess the peoples from the nation, they're gonna need God's aid. And you see that specifically in verse 10 of chapter 10.

We'll pick up at verse seven. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal. He and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear them for I have delivered them into your hand.

Not a man of them shall stand before you. Isn't that great? You see, we think, oh, but we don't get those sorts of promises. You most certainly do.

Before you're ever told, if by the Spirit you do mortify the deeds of the body you will live, in 813 of Romans, you get Romans 6. You've died with Christ. You've been buried with Christ. You've been raised with Christ.

Therefore, no longer let sin reign in your members. You can't say, well, I don't have the same sorts of resources that Joshua did. You most certainly do have the same resources that Joshua did. You have God.

You have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have the one who has pledged himself to your aid and your assistance and your help. Notice in verse 8, do not fear them for I have delivered them into your hand. Not a man of them shall stand before you.

Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly having marched all night from Gilgal. So the Lord, notice he's the subject of the verbs in verse 10. So Yahweh routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makedah. And then later he said, well, let's just keep reading, verse 11.

And it happened as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword." Well, Pastor Butler, it doesn't seem very Christian to rejoice over those hailstones. It most certainly is. There's a whole psalm rejoicing over those kinds of hailstones.

Psalm 136. You know that psalm that has the blessed refrain, for the mercy of Yahweh endures forever? Do you know that some of the substance of the psalm where that refrain occurs is that God killed all the firstborn in Egypt? For the mercy of Yahweh endures forever.

I get it. The Egyptians don't see it that way, but Israelites do. And Israelites praise their God as a result. Do you get that?

It's a question of perspective. Praise God for hailstones that come down upon Canaanites and wipe them out so that the people of God can receive their promise. Again, I'm not suggesting you go out this afternoon and pray that hailstones destroy your boss. Or if you're an Abbotsfordian, please don't pray that for Chilliwackians.

The nature of the warfare is a bit different, but the warrior is the same, even God most high. Notice Joshua 21. Joshua 21 here's the I don't want to say key because it sounds Christian book ish Here's the key to how to understand the book of Joshua. I don't like that stuff But it is the key on how to understand the book of Joshua notice in Joshua 21 43 so Yahweh gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give to their fathers and they took possession of it and dwelt in it and The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers.

And not a man of all their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

That's the book of Joshua, brethren. Again, there's that point. There's no peace ultimately for the people of God without the destruction of God's enemies. And that's a New Covenant concept as well.

If we read further, or previous in Revelation 21, 8, and then we read later in Revelation 22, you know what's glorious about the New Jerusalem? Do you know what's wonderful about the New Jerusalem? There's no riffraff there. There's no sinners there.

There's no sexual perversion there. There's no abortion there. There's no euthanasia there. The glory of the New Jerusalem is that the enemies of Yahweh have been crushed and the friends of Yahweh now live forever in his presence.

If that doesn't make us long for heaven, I don't know what will. I mean, this world is terrible. It's disgusting. There's a woman with four babies in her womb asking that the two boys be terminated because she wants girls and isn't into boys. that such a thing would even be entertained, that that would even arise in the mind, shows us how disgusting and polluted the world is in which we live.

The fact that we have gone from, at least in America, in terms of the Democrat Party, to, you know, we're not big fans of abortion, we don't think it should be done often, but we want it to be legal, to now shout your abortion? Show the world your abortion? Parade your abortion? Brethren, if that doesn't make you long for the new Jerusalem, and that place where nothing defiles will come in.

You know, that's been said with reference to heaven. You know, it's that reality where God is, where we are with him in his presence. Of course, there aren't the sorts of things that offend in this lower world. Learn that from the book of Joshua.

Learn that from the conquest in Israel. There's no peace, no happiness, no safety for Israel in the land of Canaan until the Canaanites are gone. Now people say here, well that's so disgusting that the God of Israel would wage genocide upon these poor innocent Canaanites. They were vile, wretched, bestial, sexually perverted people.

They look very much like the sorts of people that you and I rub shoulders with on a regular basis. They look very much like the sorts of people that make up certain political parties in Canada and in America. They were vile, they were wretched, and God used Israel, who was not altogether righteous, to be His chastening hand, with reference to driving out those Israelites. Now, before you say, well, God's just not fair.

When Israel acts like Canaan, guess what happens? They get dispossessed from the land. When Israel is canonized, which the book of Judges starts to show us happening not long after their reception of the land. You see it with reference to Israel's history.

When they act like Canaanites, when they engage in gross sexual perversion, when they're offering up their babies to Moloch, what's God do? God sends Babylon. God sends Assyria. God shows us that His justice is not arbitrary.

His justice is not capricious. His justice is consistent with His holy perfections. It is who God is. This idea that it's just not fair for this God.

You're not fair. You don't have a right to start to lecture God. I love that in the prophet Ezekiel. The Lord through Ezekiel says, the children of your people say the way of Yahweh is not fair.

God says, but it's their way that's not fair. We have violated his law. We have raised the fist at him. We have transgressed that law.

He tells us don't engage in idolatry. What do we do? We go a whoring after whatever God there may be. He tells us not to blaspheme his name.

What do we do? We use the name of God and Jesus like it's filler in a sentence akin to a, or um, or right. Or we just flat out blaspheme that holy and precious name. He tells us, I'm going to give you the gift of one day for you to come out of the world and enjoy me.

Oh, no, we can't have a whole day. You get a morning, God, if that. In fact, we're going to move our services to Saturday night like the Catholics did. And that way we have all day Sunday so we can go to the lake.

God tells us, tells you children to honor and obey your parents. What do you do? I'm not picking on you personally, but if you're thinking along with me, you'll know I don't always obey them. I don't always do what's right in their sight.

I've got an attitude. I've got problems. I've got issues. Now, again, I'm assuming you're honest here.

God tells us not to murder. Now, we pride ourselves in not actually stopping people's hearts, but even in the church, brethren, we deal with each other in such unkind ways. I think it's the sixth commandment that's at the root of do not gossip. I think it's the sixth word at the root of do not slander.

I think it's the sixth commandment that's at the root of a condemnation of whispering and backbiting. We're not supposed to do that. I mean, seventh commandment? Oh yeah, we live in a perverted age.

We're perverted. Jesus said, if you look upon a woman to lust, or women, if you look upon a man to lust, you have broken the commandment. God tells us not to be thieves or lie or covet. All of us do all of that on a regular basis.

And yet we say to Yahweh, oh, your way is not fair. It's not right that you would kill those poor innocent Canaanites. What do you mean it's not right or fair that God would kill those poor innocent Canaanites? They were bestial, vile, wretched people that God used Israel to bring judgment upon.

And if we conduct ourselves that way, He does it to us. There's a link between, say, Leviticus and the book of Revelation. In the book of Leviticus, in chapter 18, God says it's for this cause, the bestial, wicked behavior of the Canaanites, that the land vomits out the inhabitants. Don't think it's accidental that Jesus uses the same image when he speaks to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.

Because you're neither hot nor cold, I will what? I'll spit you out of my mouth. The Old Testament, it was the land that spit out the vile inhabitants. In the New Covenant, it is the false professor.

It is the fake. It is the fraud. Not the person that goes to Christ for forgiveness. Not the person that pleads with the Father for forgiveness.

Not the person that takes seriously John's admonition. My little children, I write these things so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. That's one of those texts that we all give a hearty amen to. But to hypocrites, you're a hypocrite in the professing church of God, Jesus will spit you out of his mouth.

See, he is no respecter of persons. It's not arbitrary. It's not caprice on his part. When God tells Israel to go in and dispossess the land of Canaanites, that is not an act of genocide.

It is an act of justice. See, this is our problem. We don't like the justice of God. Like we read in the last hour, I read a bit from Pink's Attributes of God concerning the holiness of God.

And he uses the argument of the holiness of God as a proof of the inspiration of Holy Scripture. He says nobody develops or nobody conceives of a holy God. Why? When men make idols, they make idols that are like them, or at least will sanction them.

They don't make up holy, holy, holy God. He says they no more make that holy God than the lake of fire that they're going to go to for having made their false God. He's right. So we lose these thoughts and we lose sight of this.

So Joshua himself gives praise to God for his victory. Notice in 23.9, 23.9. For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations, but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 2418, and the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwell in the land. We also will serve Yahweh for he is our God.

You see it in Nehemiah chapter nine. So the people went in and possessed the land. You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands. with their kings and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they wished. We sang Psalm 44 at the outset of our worship.

Hopefully you remember that Psalm because it says, we have heard with our ears, O God, and our fathers have told us the deeds you did in their days, in days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but them you planted. You afflicted the peoples and cast them out, for they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arms save them. but it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance because you favored them." Again, that God who gives that grace, that God who gives that deliverance, that God who has that victory and power is our God. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Why? For God is at work in you, both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Brethren, you're not fighting sin in your own strength. Now, don't lay on the couch and think that somehow you're satisfying the requirement to fight sin.

Well, these Doritos are really helping me fight sin. No, no, no. You're not supposed to be passive, but you're supposed to recognize the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in you. That's why Paul's language makes sense.

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, how are you going to fight sin? You're going to do it in a particularly spiritual way. You're not a moralist. It's not just behavior therapy modification.

That's not what Christianity is. And that same God is our God.

Application and Conclusion

Well, brethren, in conclusion, Stephen's defense focuses primarily on the charge that he's anti-Moses in verses 17 to 43. He tells them, I'm not anti-Moses. You and your forefathers are anti-Moses. Moses wrote about Jesus.

And if you reject Jesus, then you reject Moses. That's the essence of his argument to show that he's not anti-Moses. The essence of his argument with reference to the temple is that he's not. The tabernacle and the temple functioned for a time.

It was a type pointing unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that the Lord Jesus Christ has come, attachment to the temple is sin. Attachment to the temple is idolatry. Attachment to the temple is to go back to the types and shadows and neglect the substance, which is Jesus.

Stephen sounds a whole lot like the book of Hebrews in this particular defense. In terms of, secondly, the dwelling of God. You know, in our studies in the book of Genesis, back when we looked at Genesis chapter 2 specifically, we noted that Genesis chapter 2 is a sanctuary. It's a temple.

Adam's primary calling was an agrarian. Adam's primary calling was priestly. Adam was tasked, yes, to cultivate, yes, to protect, yes, to guard the garden, but also to extend its boundaries so that Yahweh could dwell with his creature. And yet, Adam and Eve sin.

They're driven out from that dwelling place of God. And that brings to us the rest of redemptive history to show us the means by which God restores what was lost with reference to Adam the first. And that restoration comes through Adam the last, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. And they marveled at him, and they said, it took our fathers 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?

What's John the theologian tell us? He tells us that Jesus was talking about the temple of his body. John 1.14, a blessedly glorious incarnation text, talks about the Word became flesh and He what? He dwelt among us.

He tabernacled among us. The book or the revelation that we read, Revelation chapter 21 in the New Jerusalem, what do we learn? We learned that I saw no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. See, here's the point.

If Israel is taught in Leviticus 1-9 how they're supposed to enter into the dwelling place of God in order to see it achieved as a meeting place of God, it comes through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That pointed forward to the Lord Christ. If you want to dwell with God today, Not under his wrath or his fury or his curse and his justice and his righteousness, but if you want to dwell with God in a way of relationship, it's through Jesus Christ. Isn't that glorious?

God has made a way where people like you and I can ultimately be in the new Jerusalem. I mean, we should be, Revelation 21, eight, we should be, Revelation 22, those dogs outside of the city. We should be excluded from that dwelling place of almighty God. But through the blood of Jesus Christ, we have been brought nigh.

You want to be near God, you need to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for this theme in Scripture, so clear, so obvious, the dwelling of God with His people. Lord, we look forward to that day when we enter into the new Jerusalem. We look forward to that day when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. that the land is ultimately dispossessed of all of the Canaanites and righteousness dwells forever. Lord God, we thank you for the prospect of heaven typified by Canaan.

We thank you for the prospect of dwelling in the presence of God typified by tabernacle and temple and ultimately realized even now through our Lord Jesus Christ foretastes even now in the church of the living God. Lord, we pray that sinners who do not know you would be brought nigh through the blood of Jesus Christ, confessing their sins, laying by grace their hands upon that scapegoat, and seeing it driven out into the wilderness. And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, let's close and sing the Doxology.

Scripture References

• Genesis 2
• Exodus 25; 25:8; 25:40; 29; 29:45-46; 33:1-3; 40; 40:33-35
• Leviticus 1-2; 1-9; 9; 9:22; 10; 10:1; 16; 16:1-2; 18
• Deuteronomy 7; 32:49
• Joshua 1; 3; 10; 10:1-43; 10:7-11; 21; 21:43; 23:9; 24:18
• 1 Samuel 4
• 2 Samuel 6
• Nehemiah 9
• Psalm 44; 136
• Matthew 28
• John 1:14
• Acts 6:11; 6:13; 7:42; 7:44-45
• Romans 6; 8:13
• Ephesians 2
• 1 Timothy 3
• Hebrews 9:22
• Revelation 2-3; 21; 21:8; 22