[I apologize if you received this blog already. The system says it was sent out on schedule, but I see no evidence that it was.]

I can’t leave Exodus without one more mention of Bezalel and Oholiab, the men who built the Tabernacle. We met them first back in Exodus 31:

The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have 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. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you. (Exodus 31.1 – 6, ESV)

Bezalel is explicitly mentioned, by name, seven times in Exodus (not counting all the “he built…”), ending with one last shout-out in Exodus 38. After all the construction was finished, a summary of all the materials that had been used starts this way:

These are the records of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses…Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses; and with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. (Exodus 38.21 – 23, ESV)

I feel compelled to mention Bezalel and Oholiab one last time because Moses felt compelled to mention them one last time. Moses didn’t make the Tabernacle, Bezalel and Oholiab did. And God wants us to remember their names! They wouldn’t actually serve in the Tabernacle – they’re not Levites – but they faithfully did the work God equipped and called them to do.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV)

I can’t leave Exodus without one more mention of Bezalel and Oholiab, the men who built the Tabernacle. We met them first back in Exodus 31:

The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have 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. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you. (Exodus 31.1 – 6, ESV)

Bezalel is explicitly mentioned, by name, seven times in Exodus (not counting all the “he built…”), ending with one last shout-out in Exodus 38. After all the construction was finished, a summary of all the materials that had been used starts this way:

These are the records of the Tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were recorded at the commandment of Moses…Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the LORD commanded Moses; and with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. (Exodus 38.21 – 23, ESV)

I feel compelled to mention Bezalel and Oholiab one last time because Moses felt compelled to mention them one last time. Moses didn’t make the Tabernacle, Bezalel and Oholiab did. And God wants us to remember their names! They wouldn’t actually serve in the Tabernacle – they’re not Levites – but they faithfully did the work God equipped and called them to do.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV)

Our leisurely pace of one chapter/day going through the Pentateuch allows me to see things I haven’t seen before. Today, a simple metaphor inspired by the successful building of the Tabernacle.

I wrote a few weeks ago about my deck furniture building project. The steps were simple:

• Step 1: find a plan
• Step 2: acquire the materials
• Step 3: follow the plan
• Step 4: set up the furniture on the deck

The Tabernacle followed the same progression

• Step 1: receive the plan from God (Exodus 25 – 31)
• Step 2: get the materials from the volunteer donors (Exodus 36.3 – 7)
• Step 3: follow the plan (Exodus 36 – 39). For example:

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half was its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold around it. And he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet, two rings on its one side and two rings on its other side… (Exodus 37.1 – 3, ESV) – “Bezalel made the ark…and then it describes exactly how he made the ark following the specifications given, in this case, in Exodus 25.10 – 22.

And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain. (Exodus 25.40, LSB)

• Step 4: set up the Tabernacle (Exodus 40)

Bob made the deck furniture. Bezalel and his team made the Tabernacle. Jesus told us to make disciples. How are we doing with that project?

• Step 1: receive the plan

Jesus was clear: “You make disciples” (Matthew 28.18 – 20), “I’ll build the church” (Matthew 16.18). We sometimes get the plan mixed up. We think that if we build a “church,” in some magical way, disciples will get made. On the contrary, disciples are made when people intentionally train other people (Mark 3.14, Matthew 4.19, 2 Timothy 2.2. That’s the plan.

• Step 2: get the materials

In this case, the materials are the people. We’re in America, and we have an abundance of “materials” – disciple-making tools. I’m a huge fan of tools, and I talk frequently in this space about The Navigators’ 2:7 Series, and Every Man a Warrior, for example. But Jesus didn’t say we have a shortage of materials. He said we have a shortage of people:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, ESV)

• Step 3: follow the plan

And what are we supposed to do with these people? We’re supposed to follow the plan and invest in them through disciple-making relationships. And that’s where we get off track. Instead of training members to do ministry as Paul commanded…

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

…the leaders often see themselves doing the ministry while the members watch. Or, as one pastor said in a sermon, “My job is to feed the sheep. Your job is to love the sheep, and one way to love the sheep is to volunteer to fill the jobs here on Sunday morning like teaching Sunday school and keeping the nursery.” I’m working through a book right now entitled The Discipleship Dilemma by Dennis Allen. The teaser for the book containing phrases the author uses early and often reads:

Disciples, living in discipling relationships are Christ’s model to make effective disciples. Yet the traditions illustrated in The Disciple Dilemma explain how people have been derailed from following Christ for centuries, and likewise, derailed the development of making more disciples. Unless leaders understand the dilemma and act, the dissipation of disciples grinds on, producing passivated spectators and disillusioned Nones and Dones. 

Strong language, so it’s not just me…

• Step 4: set up what you built

Just as I wrote in my blog about my deck furniture, the chairs had to be moved to the deck! I couldn’t just leave them in the garage. Neither can disciples be left inside the church. We turn them loose to continue the work.

Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, MSG)

There is a lot of text in Exodus devoted to the Tabernacle – Exodus 25 – 40 – and there are a number of takeaways, not the least of which is that Bezalel, the guy in charge of actually making the Tabernacle is the first man in scripture to be “filled with the Spirit.”

I do not intend to get into all the details. When I was growing up, I went to a week-long series of meetings centered around a scale model of the Tabernacle including what each piece and each number meant. I’m not sure that level of detail is warranted. You can read the “big picture” in Hebrews 8.1 – 6 and Hebrews 9.1 – 10.25.

Today, I want to focus on one of the bright spots in Israel’s experience, and tomorrow share a metaphor I hadn’t seen before.

The story of the Tabernacle highlights a successful project, beginning with a call for volunteers:

Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded…” (Exodus 35.4 – 10, ESV)

A call for voluntary contributions of all kinds of things (recall that at the Exodus, the Israelites “plundered the Egyptians” (Exodus 12.33 – 36)). A call for voluntary labor.

And they got both:

And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do.” So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. (Exodus 36.2 – 7, ESV)

Success! I’m going to have to add this to my list of successful projects in the Old Testament (there aren’t many), where there was a clear objective that required the cooperation of people, and they met the objective.

So Moses finished the work. (Exodus 40.33, ESV)

Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Joshua 21.43 – 45, ESV)

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. (Nehemiah 6.15, ESV)

The Golden Calf debacle prompts several intriguing exchanges between God and Moses. Here’s the first while Moses is still on the mountain:

And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. (Exodus 32.7, ESV)

That is NOT what the LORD said back in Exodus 20:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Exodus 20.2, ESV)

Sounds like a conversation between parents: “YOUR son…”

Then God threatens to destroy them but Moses intercedes:

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people…” (Exodus 32.9 – 12, ESV)

Moses’ prayer is based on the honor of God’s name. Also, as my friend Henry Clay says – Henry is a very powerful pray-er – God likes it when we make a case. Think of Abraham before the judgment of Sodom in Genesis 18. Or Job:

Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. (Job 23.3 – 4, ESV)

The back-and-forth between God and Moses continues in Exodus 33:

The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you,…but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” (Exodus 33.1 – 3, ESV, emphasis mine)

…Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33.12 – 17, ESV)

Moses is clear: “If your presence will not go with me, then we don’t want to go.” And Moses’ point is something like, “If you’re not with us, in what sense are we your people?” And God responds favorably: “My presence will go with you…this very thing that you have spoken I will do…”

Did God change his mind? A deep question, but these conversations illustrate the power of prayer. Intentional, deliberate, make-a-case prayer. “LORD, you want to do this because…”

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4.6, NIV, emphasis mine)

I reminded us yesterday that Jesus is our priest, and that’s a good thing because Aaron, the first priest, wasn’t all that great a guy. We’ve already seen that the infamous golden calf episode came right after Aaron had had a personal encounter with God! Now we come to Exodus 32, the golden calf chapter and see that Aaron has real issues.

First, when pressured, he makes the golden calf:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32.1 – 4, ESV)

Then, when challenged by Moses, he refuses to take responsibility:

And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” (Exodus 32.22 – 24, ESV)

Aaron was an incredibly weak leader and man. “Aaron…fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf.” (verse 4) is very different from “I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.” (verse 24) And of course, he blames the whole thing on the people who are “set on evil.”

A people “set on evil” need to be restrained, but Aaron doesn’t restrain them:

Moses saw that the people were simply running wild—Aaron had let them run wild, disgracing themselves before their enemies. (Exodus 32.35, MSG)

But here’s a thought: Aaron becomes the first high priest anyway! (See Leviticus 8 and 9.) Maybe he functioned OK as a priest, just not as a leader. We see this sort of thing all the time. For example, the Denver Broncos football team has hired several men over the past few years who were outstanding assistant coaches but terrible head coaches. The last one, Nathaniel Hackett, was said to be a genius as an offensive coordinator, but he was a miserable failure as head coach. I was at a game when the crowd took to counting down the play clock so the team wouldn’t incur a delay of game penalty because Coach Hackett apparently couldn’t keep up with it. He was fired before the end of the season, and the Broncos have hired Sean Payton who is a former, you guessed it, successful head coach.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12.6 – 8, NLT)

Back to Exodus with a couple of chapters on the garments of the priests. Here are a few observations:

You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all those wise at heart whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to set him apart as holy, in order for him to minister as priest to Me. Exodus 28.2, 3, LSB

The garments were to be made by those “wise at heart…filled with the spirit of wisdom.” I have noted before that the phrase “filled with the Spirit of God” was first used to describe Bezalel to build the Tabernacle. But here in chapter 28, a similar gift is for making the priestly garments.

Another observation: the garments were “for glory and for beauty.” It’s in verse 2, above, and also in verse 40. God is an extravagant artist!

For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. (Exodus 28.40, ESV)

God is an artist, and we are his artwork!

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV)

There is also the concept of remembrance:

There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes…So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. (Exodus 28.21, 29, ESV)

And there’s one more observation. Tim Keller taught that we should look for Jesus in the Bible. For example, in the parable of the two sons in Luke 15, Tim said that Jesus is the true “older brother” who did seek and save the lost. Who is our priest? Who carries our names before the Father? Jesus does!

This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7.22 – 25, ESV)

Before we jump back into Exodus (I haven’t forgotten!), I want to write one more blog on Tim Keller. No promises, but I think this is the last one. It occurred to me that there are readers who have never heard of him and wonder what all the fuss is about. Someone just shared with me an extraordinary article Tim wrote called “The Centrality of the Gospel.” I hope you’ll take the time to read it in its entirety and pass it on. As the copyright notice at its end says:

Copyright © 2000 by Timothy Keller. This article appeared in adapted form in Chapter 3 of the book Center Church by Timothy Keller (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012). We encourage you to use and share this material freely—but please don’t charge money for it, change the wording, or remove the copyright information.

The point of “The Centrality of the Gospel” comes from Galatians 2.14 where Paul is describing a confrontation he had with Peter:

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, …

Tim writes:

Paul lays down a powerful principle. He deals with Peter’s racial pride and cowardice by declaring that he was not living “in line with the truth of the gospel.” From this we see that the Christian life is a process of renewing every dimension of our life—spiritual, psychological, corporate, social—by thinking, hoping, and living out the “lines” or ramifications of the gospel. The gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working, and behaving. The implications and applications of Galatians 2:14 are vast.

I’m not going to summarize the article for you. Please read it for yourself! A fellow Navigator described it as “the best nine pages outside the Bible.” Another Navigator said, “I try to get it in the hands of every believer I disciple as soon as possible.” It’s certainly going to become another arrow in my quiver as soon as I internalize its message a bit more.

I’ll leave you with just two more snippets and a key verse:

Paul is showing that in our Christian life we never “get beyond the gospel” to something more advanced. The gospel is not the first step in a stairway of truths; rather, it is more like the hub in a wheel of truth. The gospel is not just the ABCs but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom but the way we make all progress in the kingdom...

All problems, personal or social, come from a failure to apply the gospel in a radical way, a failure to get “in line with the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14). All pathologies in the church and all its ineffectiveness come from a failure to let the gospel be expressed in a radical way. If the gospel is expounded and applied in its fullness in any church, that church will begin to look very unique. People will find in it both moral conviction yet compassion and flexibility.

The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world… (Colossians 1.6, NIV)

Earlier today, June 1, 2023, 921 cadets graduated from the Air Force Academy, about five miles south of where we live in Monument, Colorado. It’s a testimony to their discipline and perseverance in a very demanding environment. We had no reason to be in attendance today, but I have been to several of these, and it’s always thrilling.

The most exciting moment is at the end, after they have taken the oath of office, and they’re waiting to be dismissed. It’s so timed that when the Commandant commands, “DISMISSED!” the cadets throw their hats into the air in celebration as the Air Force Thunderbirds fly over. It takes split-second timing, and it’s a marvel. I cry as I write.

Afterward, the Thunderbirds do a 30-minute air show. From where our house is, we can hear ’em, but we can’t see ’em. These pictures of the four-ship with Pikes Peak in the background were made by Jen Thielke and posted on NextDoor.

With all that’s apparently going wrong these days, it’s nice to celebrate excellence.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4.8, NIV

I wrote last week about the passing of Tim Keller, and tributes continue to come, including this one from the Wall Street Journal. As I was reading John Stonestreet’s tribute on BreakPoint, I was struck by this sentence:

Keller was in his forties before he showed up on the public’s radar. Oddly enough, he went to Manhattan after pastoring a small-town Virginia church for nine years. Success in the Big Apple was by no means a sure thing. A theologically conservative pastor setting up shop in the “Babylon” of downtown New York City had all the makings of a fish-out-of-water story where the well-meaning parson was doomed to failure even before he set out. – Breakpoint, May 25, 2023

What got my attention was “small-town…doomed to failure…” Who else went to New York City from a small-town church, whose mission was doomed to failure? Ever hear of David Wilkerson of Cross and the Switchblade fame? In 1958, David Wilkerson was a small-town Pentecostal pastor in Pennsylvania when he read a story in Time Magazine about New York City gangs. He felt called to reach them. One of his converts was Puerto Rican gang member Nicky Cruz, about whom I’ve written before.

But compare and contrast these two men: both Tim Keller and David Wilkerson felt called to go to New York City from small-town pastorates. Tim targeted the elite. David targeted gang members. Their missions were both doomed from the start yet they both succeeded. They couldn’t have been more different theologically, preaching style, and probably personality. What did they have in common? They loved the people they were trying to reach.

Nicky Cruz: I could kill you, preach!

David Wilkerson: Yes, you could, Nicky. You could cut me up in a thousand pieces! And every piece will say ‘I love you!

The common people felt loved by Jesus, and the quote I posted from Tim Keller’s Prodigal God speaks of that. Here’s part of it:

Jesus’s teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day…If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. – Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

God uses all kinds of people.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13.1 – 2, NIV)

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. (1 Corinthians 12.4, NIV)