Christmas Day
Ex.
40:17-21, 34-38
12/25/19
Based on the pictures I see on
Facebook, it is clear that there are many people who enjoy camping – and that
includes a number of members of this congregation. There are many great places in southern
Illinois for camping, and so we are blessed in that you don’t have to go very
far to find a lovely setting where you can spend some time outdoors.
However, I feel like perhaps I
should instead say “camping.” After all,
I don’t see many pictures of tents when people go camping. Instead, there is usually a camper
involved. And many of these campers are
not exactly what I would call “roughing it.”
Instead, they take all the comforts of home and bring them to the
setting of the outdoors – which I suppose is entirely the point. A person gets to enjoy the setting of nature
without giving up any comfort.
In the Old Testament lesson for the Feast
of the Nativity of Our Lord we learn that in a time when Israel lived in tents,
Yahweh went camping too. The tabernacle
– a temporary and portable structure that was for all intents and purposes a
tent – was the means by which Yahweh dwelt in the midst of his people as they
journeyed after their time at Mt. Sinai.
In the instructions that Yahweh gave
to Israel at Mt. Sinai, part of the Torah, Yahweh said, “And let them make me
a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Yahweh had just approached Israel as he came
down on Mt Sinai. It was a terrifying
experience as the mountain was wrapped in smoke and Yahweh descended on it in
fire. The mountain trembled and the smoke went up from it like the smoke of a
kiln.
If
this is what it was going to be like, maybe Yahweh dwelling in their midst
didn’t sound like such a great idea.
However, God did not intend his presence to be a source of terror. Instead it was to be a comfort for his
people, knowing that he was there with them
– there in their midst.
Yahweh
was going to provide located means by which he would dwell in their midst. This was God
who was going to be there Israel wasn’t going to make whatever arrangements seemed
best to them. Instead, Yahweh provided
very specific instructions about what was to be made. He said, “Exactly as I show you concerning
the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make
it.”
The
materials for the tabernacle and its implements were to come from offerings
given by the Israelites. Yahweh said,
“From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for
me.” And just as the plan for the
tabernacle came from God, so also he provided the skill needed to make it. Yahweh said that he had chosen a man named
Bezalel from the tribe of Judah, and “filled him with the Spirit of God,
with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to
devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting
stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.”
The
heart of the tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant. And the key piece of the Ark was its cover –
the mercy seat. This lid had two
cherubim – angels upon it. The Ark was placed in the rear portion of the tabernacle,
the Holy of Holies that the high priest entered only once a year. And Yahweh said that he would be enthroned
upon the mercy seat.
In
our text from the last chapter of Exodus we hear about how Moses set up the
tabernacle for the first time when all its components were completed. When he
had done this, something remarkable happened.
We hear at the end of our text: “Then the cloud covered the
tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And
Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on
it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
Yahweh’s
glory, his perceptible presence, filled the tabernacle as he demonstrated the
truth of his words – the tabernacle would be the means by which he would dwell
in the midst of his people. Placed in the very center of the Israelite camp,
Yahweh truly was in their midst.
And
his presence was the means by which Israel knew whether they were to remain in
place or set out on the journey. We are told: “Throughout all their
journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the
people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up,
then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud
of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the
sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”
Today
is the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. Today we celebrate the birth of the
incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. In
our Gospel lesson, John tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we
have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth.” The Greek word John uses for “dwell” is based on
the same root that was used to translate “tabernacle” in the Greek
translation of the Old Testament.
John is
telling us that all that had been true of the tabernacle as the located
presence of God, is now true of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus himself makes this point in the next chapter. The temple in
Jerusalem was the permanent replacement for the tabernacle. At its dedication, the cloud and the glory of
God filled it too.
After Jesus
had cleansed the temple the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing
these things?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.” The Jews were confused, because it had
taken forty-six years to build this new version of the temple. They asked, “And
will you raise it up in three days?” Yet
John tells us, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body.”
At Christmas we
celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh. We learn that the
tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament were types that pointed forward to
an even greater fulfillment in the future. In the Old Testament, God’s
people did not have to wonder about where God was present for them. He was there through the located means of the
tabernacle and temple.
In the same
way, we do not have to wonder where God is present for us. At Christmas, he was present in the located
means of the flesh of the baby Jesus lying in the manger. The Son of God
himself came to dwell in our world as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and
born of the virgin Mary. He came in the
flesh – he took on a human nature from Mary – without ceasing to be God. He is true God and true man at the same time.
The tabernacle
was more than the place where God dwelt in the midst of Israel and indicated to
them when it was time to travel and when they were to stay in place. It was also the location where the sacrifices
were offered – sacrifices that delivered forgiveness as God had promised. And in particular, the mercy seat of the Ark
of the Covenant was the location where the high priest on the Day of Atonement sprinkled
the blood in order to purify it from contamination of Israel’s sins. The
tabernacle and temple were a place of sacrifice by which God removed Israel’s
sins. Only in this way could he continue
to dwell in their midst as his people.
Like
the tabernacle and temple, these sacrifices were also types pointing forward to
the great sacrifice that Jesus Christ would provide as he offered himself on
the cross. St Paul told the Romans, “For
there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward
as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
The
word “propitiation” is the same Greek word that was used to translate “mercy
seat” in the Old Testament. By the
shedding of his blood in death, Jesus Christ was the sacrifice that has given
us redemption. He has freed us from our
slavery to sin by giving us forgiveness. The baby in the manger of Christmas
came to be the man nailed to the cross on Good Friday.
The
incarnate Lord was like us in all ways, except that he had no sin. One of the ways he was like us was that his
flesh could be killed. The wages of sin
is death. The One who had no sin came to suffer death for us by taking our sin
as his own – by becoming sin for us. But he did not remain dead. On the third
day, on Easter, God raised him from the death with flesh that can never die
again. He defeated death and has given
us the living hope because when he returns in glory on the Last Day he will
raise us in bodies transformed to be like his – bodies that can never die
again.
God
was present with his people in the Old Testament through the located means of
the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant.
He was present with his people in the first century A.D. through the
located means of the flesh of the baby Jesus in the manger, the man hanging on
the cross, and the risen Lord who ate and drank with is disciples.
As
we look for the return of our Lord, he continues to be present with us through located
means. In the water of the baptismal
font we were buried with Christ as we were joined to his saving death. Our sins were washed away and we received the
guarantee that we will share in Jesus resurrection. Paul tells us, “For if we have been united with him
in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a
resurrection like his.”
And
in the Sacrament of the Altar Jesus uses the located means of bread and wine to
give us his true body and blood. The
means may appear humble as we confess that it is the true body and blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But then again, it
looked that way too when the creator of the cosmos was wrapped in swaddling
clothes and lying in a manger – dependent on Mary and Joseph to provide for
him. Yet just as it was true then, so it is now that God is present and at work
through these means to give us forgiveness and salvation.
In
the Old Testament, God dwelt in the midst of his people and gave them
forgiveness through the tabernacle and temple.
Now in these last days, he has dwelt in our midst through the incarnate
Son of God. By his death and resurrection he has won forgiveness for us and
begun the resurrection that will be ours too on the Last Day. And as we look for that day, he continues to
be present in our midst through the located means of the Sacraments as he gives
us forgiveness and strength to live as his people.
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