Babel and the Temple

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

our ever-going series on the temple and I was putting together the outline this week and I was going to talk about the tabernacle and of course the elements of the tabernacle and I was going to talk about the journey of the tabernacle because many of you know, once the tabernacle was built they went around the wilderness and then they crossed over the Jordan and then they were in their land so they just went and built the temple right then and there, right? No, that was three, four hundred years before they built the temple. The tabernacle remained. And so I was going to discuss all of that, and then Father opened the doors for me to go a little bit different direction. And so we're going to talk about the temple in contrast to the Tower of Babel.

And there's a subtle connection, but I believe it's a big connection. And we're also going to be discussing a few of the elements of the tabernacle today. And I hope it's a blessing for you as it is for me. So we've reviewed Kedusha, holiness, and holiness is defined by? Holiness is defined by? Fantastic, all right. We talked about some parallels between Eden and the temple. The presence of Israel, Jerusalem, tabernacle, and so on and so forth. And I wanted to kind of start out with just a cool, a very cool verse. And it's a testimony from the prophet Jeremiah 17, 12. It says, Speaking about God's throne.

From the where? Beginning. So his throne was in the beginning. Is the place of our sanctuary. At the place of the beginning... God's sanctuary was the place of his throne. And so that's a very compelling verse because it's a testimony that God has always been on the throne ever since the beginning. And so what happens if we go back to the beginning? We see something fascinating. We see in Genesis 2.8 just a subtle connection, just the way the Hebrew is phrased. It states that the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. Eastward. Eastward. And there he put man who he had formed. The question that was posed to me this past week was, eastward of what?

The garden was planted eastward in Eden. Eastward of what? And so the assertion is, of course, eastward of the throne. Now, I know last week we talked a little bit about the tree of life being also under the opinion as the place of God's voice. The place of God's throne room was in that area. And we showed how the cherubim were the ones who were embroidered on the curtain of the tabernacle and they were over the ark. And, of course, the Torah is like under the tree of life and the tablets were inside the ark. I want to introduce you guys to, I guess, a drash, a midrash, a discussion of... different ideas.

How many of you guys have ever been in a discussion with someone else before, and you had an assertion that you presented about a certain topic, and you had weight that you presented to back up your assertion, right? And you felt pretty good about it. I'm right on this matter, whether it be religion or politics or whatever. And then you had someone who disagreed, and they had an assertion, and they had whatever knowledge or facts or history or biblical sources to back up their assertion and you find yourself discussing different ideas that both have weight to them. This is called a conversation, right?

Anybody ever been in a civil conversation where you can understand where someone else is coming from even if you disagree? Very difficult thing to do, especially in this movement for some reason. We don't have that training. And so on one hand, you have the area of the tree of life being asserted as the throne room of God. And we have several examples of the tabernacle that would give that credence. But then you have Jeremiah and Genesis 2-8 also saying the garden was planted eastward of Israel. Something. Eastward of what? Perhaps the throne of God. It's interesting because in the tabernacle, man could not enter into the throne room where the ark was, but they were allowed to enter into the holy place.

What was in the garden? There was a tree of life, which we know is represented by the menorah in the tabernacle. So the man could tend and go before the tree of life in the tabernacle, but he could not go westward. into the throne room. So we even have the holy place in the tabernacle that is eastward of the ark and the holiest of holies. Is it right? Is it wrong? It's irrelevant. It's an idea and it's a good conversation. So assert that in the next midrash you have around the campfire at Sukkot. I thought it was interesting. What's even more interesting is there was another tree in the garden, right?

And it was a tree of knowledge, good and evil. Holiness is defined by what? Everybody got to say it now. Holiness is defined by which tree was holier. It's not a trick question. You are free to eat of every tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eat up that tree of life. Don't you touch that other tree. It's sacred. It's off limits. I have a wonderful quote by a nice pagan man, Aristotle, and he states, it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. I wanted to insert this the slides because I feel like there's great wisdom in that quote.

All too often we look at scripture or we look at history or we look at politics and we say, "Huh, I see that information. I'm interpreting that information. I've come to a conclusion and I'm right and it's the only conclusion that's right ever and I feel that I'm right." And so much so, we've become so passionate on our view of things that when someone has a slightly different idea, perhaps they've studied it from a different angle, and they feel like they have weight, even if they do have weight to their argument, their idea, we shut them down because we just can't stand to entertain the fact that we could, our ideas could be improved on. Mark of an educated man, to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it.

That leads me in a roundabout way to abraham see abraham was a man called by god due to his character and loyalty to justice and righteousness abraham stands as a symbol of light in a world that was filled with darkness god didn't search out anyone else to make a covenant with in many separate occasions abraham brings honor and reputation to himself by the way that he acts by the things that he does And through his actions and the way he carries himself, he also, in many situations, brings honor and reputation to God. Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. Next verse is my favorite. What's the next verse?

I am one of them, and so are you. Abraham's a big deal in the scriptures. In Galatians 3.29, it's asserted that if you're in Christ, you are Abraham's seed. That's what the song's based on. Didn't understand the song when I was in Baptist church. I had no idea. Now the song means so much more to me. And so Abraham understood what it meant to be an ambassador of God, representing God to this world, to a world that actually had no idea who God was. In three separate occasions, Abraham stands in the scriptural text and he cries out in the name of God. Number one was in Genesis 12, 8. It's when he entered into the land of of Canaan or Israel, if you will, for the first time.

The second is when he returned from Egypt carrying tons of riches after humiliating Pharaoh in Genesis 13, 4, and then upon entering a pact with the Philistine king Abimelech in Genesis 21, 33. Why did he cry out to God? What was the person, the purpose and function behind that? See, I've read a lot of commentaries about And you know, sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I don't. Some of the most interesting commentaries, whether I agree with them or not, come from Judaism. It's just fascinating. And one of the commentaries was from a man by the name of Moshe ben Nachman, also known as Nachmanides, the Ramban, not the Rambam.

He was a 12th century sage, and he had an idea, a commentary, about Genesis 12.8 and the purpose of Abraham crying out, God's name we read it together. You still with me? All right He cried out the name of God in a great voice before the altar and declared his sovereignty to all mankind calling out in God's name was a public Declaration intended to establish God's reputation in the eyes of man you cry out how great your God is you cry out? Who your king is you cry out who the king is it's a declaration of who God is and And the specific words used here in the Hebrew text are extremely significant. When reading through, it's fascinating because these words stand in direct contrast to the words that were spoken to the builders of the tower of of Babel.

You see, it's interesting because you guys know that the word shim in Hebrew, it means name. Name. And it has several different meanings just like the English word name does. So if I say that, you know, you have a name, well, the first thing that you think of is someone's physical identity, right? I say Pete. Pete, right? You got just a top 10 out of 10 beard first off, right? Right? Cool guy. Right? Kind of a deep voice, carries authority when he speaks. Just awesome guy. Always had long hair that's gelled up, looking cool. Pete! That's his physical identity. Your name carries your physical identity.

Another meaning for a name is character. So if I say Pete on terms of character, we know that we have a man of great patience, a man of great wisdom, a man who has so much love in his life that he shares with a huge family, a man that is good with children, a man that is a loving husband. These are things that are the reputation and honor of a name, right? If we wanted to pull a Dr. Phil, we could be like, what's your name say about you? Right? Name also carries some negative things if you have a bad reputation. How many of you guys ever got bullied in elementary school? Right? Anybody? Anybody? Can you guys think of the kid's name that bullied you in elementary school?

All right? I'll lay on the altar. Matthew. Let's just say it's Matthew. All right? And then when you're 30 years later, 20-something years later, let's say you're married and you're about to have your first child, and someone comes up to you and they say, hey, why don't you name him Matthew? Has anyone ever been there? And you're like, nah, I ain't naming him Matthew because you get all these flashbacks of being in middle school. Matthew's a jerk in middle school. I'm not going to name my boy. No, right? Is it just me? The name carries the reputation, right? When the builders of the Tower of Babel set out, they proclaimed something very significant.

Let's see if I do have the tab here. Yeah, they stated in Genesis 11:4, they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches heaven, so that we may make a name for ourselves." for ourselves. We have Abraham. All the good things that happen in his life are because of God's blessing, so he declares whose name? He declares the name of God. And then we have a group of people who want to build a tower of Babel so that their name will be well known and well honored in the generations to come. Fascinating. When the builders of the Tower of Babel set out to make a name for themselves, it was to magnify, of course, their own honor.

And in the eyes of all future generations, when Abraham proclaimed the name of God in the presence of the Canaanites, it was precisely with the meaning that the Ramban presents to proclaim the greatness and honor of our God. There are just 16 verses between the Tower of Babel incident and the first incident where Abraham proclaimed the name of God. Very close to each other. closely written together, and I feel like the biblical author did that to tell us something. You know, it's interesting because while we're on the Tower of Babel, pet peeves, pet peeves. Everyone always wants to portray the Tower of Babel as the creation of a great evil man known as Nimrod.

Nimrod came together and he wanted to conduct a new world order and start the Illuminati or whatever and build the Tower of Babel. Anybody ever heard? There's stuff on the internet, all over the internet, that really, really, really pumps this idea up about Nimrod being the one who started all the evil things at the Tower of Babel. And it's fascinating because when we go back and look, Nimrod is never once connected to the Tower of Babel in the biblical text. Never once. He founded the land that eventually the Tower of Babel was built in, but it doesn't necessarily say that he was the one that went out and orchestrated it and wanted to build it up.

And this great new world order, that's a tradition. That's a tradition of man, if you will. It's an assumption, but it is what it is. Sometimes it can be a distraction. When I was checking out Nimrod, before the first century, there are no commentaries in Judaism about Nimrod. Why? Because the four verses that his name is mentioned in in scripture are neutral. Doesn't portray him as good or bad. Mighty hunter before the Lord. What does that mean? It could be a good thing. It could be a bad thing. The Targums in the first century that exist in the first century kind of have a dual meaning. a dual description of the man.

It's interesting in Targum Ancalus, it speaks about Nimrod being a man that was against God and rebellious against God. But it also mentions that he was a great hunter of the people of the languages. And of course, we don't know really what that means or what they meant to assume there in that commentary. But some assert that it meant that even though he was rejecting God, he chased the people who were wanting to build the Tower of Babel around and hunted them down. It's just very interesting. From there, we know Philo and Josephus kind of assert that he was a rebellious man against God, but as the Tower of Babel, in the biblical text, does not have a connection to Nimrod.

These were people who got together and said, you know what? Let's proclaim the greatness of who we are. That was the great sin. We will go to heaven. We will be the ones who will conquer the flood. Building a tower? Maybe so high that the flood couldn't reach it? I don't know. The story of the Tower of Babel and the story of Abraham converge at this very point. Abraham represents the antithesis of Babel. We can see something deeper than simply a rebellion against God there. The story of the Tower of Babel and the story of Abraham... Run so closely in Scripture and the two things that connects them is of course the declaration of whose name is greater This brings us to the references of the future temple and Torah Deuteronomy 12 can we read some scripture?

Okay. You guys with me so far? I know. Matt's building up something, and I think he's really stretching this point. I don't know. He hasn't really solidified it yet. I'm going to show you some scriptures that lead me to believe that there's this huge connection. And so if you will bear with me. Deuteronomy 12, starting in verse 1. These are the decrees and the laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, have given to you to possess. Verse 1. What does the name represent? Name represents authority, reputation, and honor. You wipe out their names from their places.

And you must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all of your tribes to put his name there for his dwelling. To the place you must go. There bring your burnt offerings, sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, what you have vowed to give in your freewill offerings, your firstborn of your herds and your flocks. There in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families will eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to because the Lord your God has blessed you. You are not to do as... He says, Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name, there you are to bring everything I command you, your burnt offering, sacrifices, your tithes, special gifts, and your choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord.

What sticks out? What does God call the place of his future resting place? This is where his temple will be set up. This is where his permanent throne will sit. This is what he's prophesying about. In the future, there will be a place that I will rest in. And he calls it the place that I will choose to put my name. In other words, it will be a public display of God's sovereignty. You guys realize I'm jumping ahead a little bit. When Solomon built the temple of God, do you realize that it wasn't Israel that built it? It was all of the nations around them. All of the nations donated the work, the wood, the materials, everything came from.

Thus, it shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Because all nations at the time of Solomon understood one simple thing: This is king. Their God is great. That is the place where his name belongs. It started with Abraham and expanded with Israel in the building of the tabernacle until centuries later, of course, the first temple was built. The Tower of Babel was for the function of establishing man's sovereignty over the earth. The temple always will be represented as the reality of God's supreme sovereignty. and walk away with anything else. That's what the temple represents. This brings us to the Akedah, the sacrificing of Isaac, if you will.

You guys familiar with the story, right? Abraham heard from God, and God said, listen, you got that beloved son? Yes, Lord, thank you for him. I love him. He's awesome. Looks just like us. Awesome. I want you to go sacrifice him. Mm-hmm. I don't know about you guys. I'm sure there was at least a small hesitation there from the time that God said, listen, you needto go sacrifice Isaac. From the time that Abraham was like, yes, sir. Can you repeat that? Did I hear you correctly? You will kill your son, your only son. You will sacrifice him as a burnt offering. So not only will you kill him, you're going to burn him.

Your will be done. So we know the story. It's in Genesis 22. Then God said, take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, El Eretzcha Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you. Now it's interesting because it doesn't say the mountain of Moriah. It says the land or the region of Moriah. You guys know what that place is called today? Jerusalem. And in the region, there will be a mountain that I will show you. And you will go up that mountain. And this would be Mount Moriah. This would be the Temple Mount, if you will. It's presumed traditionally, and I have no reason to disagree with it, that the place where the altar was built for Isaac was the place of the future brazen altar at the temple.

I like the thought of it. It's tradition. I don't disagree with that assertion. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. King James Version says, "...ordered the wood." Stop. Stop it. Here I am, he replied. As Joe Good points out, later in Leviticus, we'll see how the priests actually fulfilled this same thing because there's a commandment when the altar is created to lay out the wood in order. There's an order of how the wood was to be placed on the altar. And so it's interesting that the same phrase is found here at the Akedah. Fast forward past the Exodus.

Israel has journeyed through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, and now stands before Mount Sinai. The ten words have been spoken, the ten commandments are given to Israel. More commandments are then spoken, and Moses is told to come up on the mountain. When Moses was asked to come up to the mountain, and when he started journeying up the mountain, do you know what the very first thing God commands Moses after his ascent onto the mountain? Exodus 25:1, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering.' You are to receive an offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

These are the offerings you are to receive from them. Gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet, yarn, and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins, dyed red, and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive wood for the light, spices for the anointing oil, fragrant incense, onyx stones, and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and the breastplate. Then have them make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. So what did God ask for? He asked for gold and silver and onyx and spices and red and blue and all kinds of really cool stuff.

What was the first thing he commanded? Have the people give from their heart. Some translations say, the people who are willing to give from their heart take these things. That's fascinating, to me anyway, because the foundation of God's throne, the foundation of God's dwelling wasn't onyx or spices or gold or silver. It wasn't tapestries or expensive dyes. It It was the hearts of man. That was the prerequisite of everything that was given. God expected Israel to give from their hearts. This would produce the house that God would dwell in. It was fascinating. There's one thing I learned from this biblical standard here is that giving from your heart always produces a divine abode.

Always. When I give, no doubt, No joke. I mean, you know, I give to fit. I'm biased. Give to several other ministries as well, but fit is my favorite to give to because it's my fellowship. When I do give to a ministry, specifically fit, I make sure I check every single week. I check and make sure my heart is in it. Why? I just write a check and get it over with. That's not the point. The point is the biblical standard. God loves a cheerful giver where it stems from. I expect God to finish the work in fit that he started four years ago. So I make sure that my heart is in check when I do give. Always produces a divine abode.

Now, Matt, this was talking about giving to the sanctuary of God. No, fit is not the sanctuary of God. This is not the temple. Don't let anybody ever tell you that their fellowship is the temple of God. I'm looking at the biblical standard of giving, period. When you give, it creates a foundation of a divine abode if it comes from your heart. God did not want the gold, the silver, or the incense from an Israelite who was like, but I really like this chest of frankincense I got. I don't really want to give it up and keep it because that is not going to contribute to building the foundation of God's house.

As we go through the Exodus, God begins to give Moses instructions on different elements of the tabernacle. This is the place that will make my name great. This is the place that among chaos will be a house of order. It will create a boundary between order and chaos. And inside my throne room, inside my house, when you walk in, there will be an order to everything. There will be no, no, there will be a restriction for everything. That is how holy everything will be. In accordance only the priest could go. but what happens when the men have to go to make an offering well there were certain exceptions as long as the men were clean and so on and so forth then they would bring their animal north of the altar and they would be there for the laying of hands and the slit the throat or if they needed to bring a wave offering but that was really it i mean there were a very limited scope of circumstances that a man who was not a priest could enter into that sacred area walking into the holy place no this is order only the priests are allowed in there Walking into the holiest of holies?

No, no, no, no, no. Only one man is allowed in there at a certain time of the year. Scope, scope, scope. Restriction, restriction, restriction. This will be a house of order. There will be rules. There will be restrictions. I come to appreciate that the more I study the temple. And he starts off with, in Exodus 25, just a few verses after this, in verse 10, he states, And they shall make an ark of acacia wood, and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. Within and without shalt you overlay it, and you shall put upon it a crown of gold around it. And thou shalt put in the ark the testimony which I shall give you.

And you shall put the mercy seat above the ark. And in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give to you. Fascinating, because number one, the ark seems to be a receptacle for the tablets of stone. The testimony that God is going to give, right? Or that he's giving. These are the Ten Commandments that are placed in there. Deuteronomy actually states that the tablets were a transcript of what was spoken from the divine voice on the mountain. The call, the voice of God. How many of you guys ever realize that? It's a transcript of what God spoke. So it wasn't simply the Ten Commandments written on a wall.

We got them, we got little, you know, the children's classes, we got them written on the wall so they can look at them or, you know, might be kind of cool. You have some stones that you kind of remade them and whatnot. It was more than simply the commandments. When Israel heard the voice and trembled, this is the transcript of the voice of God that came off the mountain. It was a big deal. The testimony of what God said from the mountain on fire. That's why it's the tablets of testimony. And the tablets are placed into the ark. And then if you notice, the ark is then referred to as the ark of the testimony.

In verse 22 says, God even states, there I will meet with thee in commandment under the children of Israel. The ark will be the vehicle of which the call, the voice, continues to speak to Israel. Not just on the mountain, but every time it is referred to. Every time the priest goes before the Lord. Every time the Urim and Thummim were used, it goes back to the Sinaitic experience. It mirrors that experience. we know the table of showbread was also told in verses 23 to 30 the menorah verse 31 through 40 six branches plus a center branch made with cups and flowers like almond blossoms the menorah was made to represent a tree in god's midst lights on the top always illuminated somewhat assert this is the tree of life i don't disagree at least a symbol of it we have the altar of incense in exodus 30 What was the purpose of the incense offering?

The Torah text gives no clear explanation of this. It really never elaborates. Now, you know, I know in Revelations 5.8 it talks about the elders holding the bowls of incense and these were the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5, 8 wasn't specifically talking about the incense altar, though. It was bowls of incense. Okay, close, you know. We know in Revelation 8, 3-4, it actually talks about the angel in the heavenly tabernacle, and he is offering up on the altar of incense. And the smoke that went up, Revelation says, it distinguishes it from the prayers of the saints. It says, the smoke rose along with the prayers of the saints.

But what was the purpose of incense? the incense offering. When we realize that the tabernacle is to be understood as perpetuating the Sinai experience, what happened at Mount Sinai when the covenant was made, the incense specifically emerges as an extremely powerful image. One biblical principle that we see all throughout the Torah is man was never meant to see God. Do you agree? Oh, but we want to see God. We do want to, but never in scripture does God allow anyone to see him. Moses even says, hey, can I see your face, God? But he said, you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. All right, well, I just won't do that then.

Why is this? Man was always expected to thrive in an intimate relationship with God, knowing the presence of God. Knowing God is near and God's sovereignty is supreme. That's supposed to be our relationship with God. Man was also meant to understand the distance between Almighty God and Himself. At Sinai, God's presence was very much so present. People all the way down, way off the mountain, understood that God's presence was there. But it was still unaccessible. Why? Because Kedusha. Because holiness. The restrictions. God gives warning after warning to Israel when the Ten Commandments are given. Don't you cross the boundary of the mountain.

I will shoot you through. Don't do it. It is inaccessible. Just like the tabernacle was inaccessible to Israel. It just trumps in there. Levites can only enter into certain areas for limited roles, and even the priesthood had to be very careful not to encroach. There was a level of inaccessibility that separated man and God for a specific purpose. These same rules governed Moses when he went in the mountain. Remember what happened to Moses? Even though Moses was known to be convocating with God face to face, if you will, as Deuteronomy 34, 10 states, it was done amid something called the Anam, the shroud or the cloud that was surrounding him.

This is why when Moses was on the mountain to receive the 10 commandments, it states this, and the Lord said to Moses, behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever. Moses, when he actually proceeds to towards the top of the mountain, then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called Moses out of the midst of the cloud. The cloud was necessary for Moses to ascend the presence of God. Without it, Moses could not approach God.

That was just the end of it. At Mount Sinai, man was shielded by God's presence via the cloud. This event, I believe, is preserved in the sanctuary in the service of the incense. Every single day, the lotteries were chosen. The priest for that day who would do the incense offering would be chosen. He would walk in. It would be the only time in his lifetime where he would ever get to do it. From that point forward, he would never again be chosen in the and he would offer the incense. He would facilitate the cloud that would shield the presence of God from man so that man could go before the Lord in an intimate manner, possibly.

Where was the altar supposed to be placed? Remember? Put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony where I will meet with you. Seems appropriate if it's representing the cloud, the shroud of God and the Sinaitic experience. Seems appropriate that's where it would be. In front of the veil with the cherubim on it. And then we have the altar. Make an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high. It is to be square, five cubits long, five cubits wide. Make a horn at each of the four corners so that the horns of the altar are of one piece and overlay the altar with bronze.

What was on the altar? What was on the altar? So Brad's over here doing this right here. So it's debatable whether a cubit, we're not sure, it's debatable whether a cubit is from the bottom of your elbow to the bottom of your palm or if it's from the bottom of your elbow to your fingertips. I still don't fully understand the engineering behind that. They must have had some type of a standard. And so when we're reading Josephus or the Mishnah, when it talks about the development of the temple in the first century, there's varying lengths that are converted, but we know roughly around where it is. Have you guys ever heard of Martin's theory?

It's very popular around the internet nowadays. He was a meteorologist that proposed that the temple was not on the Temple Mount, that it was down in the city of David on top of the Gihon Springs. And it's fascinating because he states that the temple courts fit perfectly down in the city of David. And he is correct. The temple courts do fit down in the city of David if the cubit fits. is only six inches long. We'll be discussing more on the location of the temple. Guys, it's on the Temple Mount. We have archaeological evidence that, yeah, that's been confirmed. So yeah, Brad, when you were measuring this, it's that, that, that, I don't, yeah, it's somewhere around here.

What was on the altar? So that was a geek out moment, I apologize. What was on the altar? The offerings were on the altar? What else was on the altar? What was always on the altar? the fire. According to the commandment, the fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously. It must never go out. The ishtimid, the eternal flame. So if you ever visit a synagogue, they have typically the ark in the back where they keep the Torah scrolls. And above the ark, you'll notice that there's a lamp, a really fancy looking lamp, and it's always turned on. It represents the eternal flame of God, the eternal flame that was on the altar.

It's funny, when I was in Israel in 2007, we walked into, it was one of the oldest synagogues in Svat, I believe, And I walked in and the guy was at the front door. They kind of have a greeted area to make sure that your head's covered and that women have their shoulders covered off your shawl, whatnot. And I looked up above the ark and I said, hey, the light's not on. And he ran. It went off. Someone flipped the switch. The fire that is continually burning on the altar. When the presence of God appeared at the top of the mountain, what did it appear as? The glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire.

Scary, intimidating. When the retelling of the Sinaitic event happened in Deuteronomy 5.22, it states, these are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly. There on the mountain from out of the, what? The cloud and the deep darkness, and he added nothing more. When you heard the voice, the call out of the darkness, and while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, the Lord your God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from... The fire. Pretty cool. The fire is a symbol of God's presence and Revelation specifically.

And it's fascinating because you're drawn near to fire. It's warm. Fire is nice, right? Fire warms you. If you get too close, it burns you. If you go too far away, you get cold. It's interesting because when you read the incident when Moses was on the mountain tending the sheep and he saw the burning bush, it says he went near it. And then when he realized the divine presence was there, it says that he stood at a distance. Fire, God's revelation. The primary motive of the sanctuary and the eternal flame that remains in the altar is just that, the dwelling place of God's presence and his revelation.

The fire was the place where the sacrifices were consumed, but even when nothing was being offered, it always remained lit. It could always be seen. Remember the ark and the incense altar and the menorah, these things were all hidden from Israel. They were inside the holy place. Most of them probably never saw it. The brazen altar, altar of bronze outside, that was something that Israel saw with their eyes. And they always saw that flame burning as a reminder of what took place at that mountain of God, Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, the place where they heard the voice of the Lord speak to them. We know that the construction of the tabernacle was temporary.

It was a portable structure. It was fabric walls, fabric roof, fabric everything, large canopy that covered the four walls. Man, imagine the moment when the decree was given to build the Mishkan, the tabernacle. God expressing his heart's desire. What was his heart's desire? To dwell among you. To dwell among you. Guys, that desire has not changed. That's what all the scriptures are a testimony of. God's desire to dwell among you. He still yearns to have his temple sitting upon the foundation that Torah says was the foundation, our hearts. If you were standing at Mount Sinai, Would you be one of the Israelites that was so overjoyed that the presence of God would want to dwell among your midst, that you gave priceless gold, silver, incense?

Would that be you? Would that be you? Or would you have been one of the Israelites who, man, someone else would do it? It's a scary thought. I would want God to dwell among me, among my family, among my midst. It's fascinating. I think it's Exodus 33, talks about something called the tent of meeting. Moses went to after the golden calf, the tabernacle hadn't been created yet. It was still in the works. The plans were still in the works. And it says that after the golden calf, it states that Moses went outside the camp to the Ohelmoa, the tent of meeting. And there he heard from God and all of Israelites would stand at their tents and watch Moses go outside the tent to this outside the camp, to this tent of meeting.

And there God would speak to him and they would all witness it. And growing up, I always thought the tent of meeting was the same thing as the tabernacle. Tabernacle hadn't been built yet. God had to remain outside the camp until the tabernacle was built inside the camp, until the hearts of Israel were ready to achieve the status of restriction, the status of holiness, the status of Kedusha and the covenant of God, to have his presence dwell among him. Now, later on, we see that the That the tent of meeting becomes synonymous with the holy place and the tabernacle after it becomes institutionalized and functioning.

But the point being this, until the tabernacle was built, until everybody gave and built this house for God, he wasn't going to come in the camp. Which heart would you have been standing at Sinai? Would you have been one that was willing to give to facilitate for the entire community so that God could make his presence dwell among you? Or would you be the one that held it back? has prompted an interesting question. What is your goal then? If your goal was never to give, was never to give up, let me put it that way, was never to give up so that God could take his residence in your life, what's your goal?

Is your goal to facilitate a place where his name would be established on the foundation of your heart? Is your goal that his name would be established in his sovereignty and his reputation and honor would be lifted up based on your life, your actions, the things that you say, the things that you do. When you walk in the world, do people see the Tower of Babel or do people see the place where God has put his name? Because it's either one or the other. What is your goal? Everybody wants to build a Tower of Babel. Paul asserts this, maybe not in those words. Everybody has things that they struggle with.

No, I'm not supposed to do that, but I struggle with it. It's called the flesh. But what is your goal? Is your goal to overcome the flesh? Is your goal to overcome the desire to lift up your known name as sovereign over your world? Or is your goal to say, you know what? I must decrease and I will lift up God's name. I will prepare. I will give up so that my heart will be a foundational stone for God's presence in my life. This is displayed. The evidence of this is from the fruit. When people see the tree that you are, this is the evidence. So I ask you, what is your goal? What kind of tree are you?

What kind of fruit are you producing? All those things they told us in the Sunday church, that aspect was right. How you speak, how you act shows the agenda of your heart. And so I leave you with that this week. Is your goal to build the Tower of Babel or is your goal to build the place that would be a foundation for God's dwelling place? Hey guys, I'm Matthew Vanderels, pastor at Founded in Truth Fellowship and I really hope you enjoy this message. If you would like to see more messages and teachings like this one, please subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here. You can also visit our website to find out more information about our ministry and what we do right here.

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