Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100905.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
14: God's Great Use Of The Tabernacle Makers Who Heeded His Word
(Exodus 31:1-11)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    In view of the many, huge needs in our world, I along with many other Christians often wonder what best to do with our lives:

    (1) After last Sunday's morning worship service, one of our members told me of a teen who is "desperate for hope" in life! Due to extenuating circumstances, it is highly unlikely that I can meet with her, leaving me wondering what else I can possibly do to help!

    (2) We received a periodical last week from the Africa Inland Mission to which one of our missionary families belongs. In it was a story of four young Africans who had been held in brutal captivity for a year by a militant group. The youths had escaped, trekking through the dangerous Congo jungle for several days before being found.

    The things these young people had faced in captivity were so traumatic some of them could hardly talk about it!

    Viewing the shock and hurt on their faces in the periodical's photo, I wondered what is the best thing I could do in view of the millions of hurting people in bad situations in Third World countries!

    (3) I suppose every one of us knows somebody who has lost a job and is finding it hard to meet financial needs. We as Christians know we should pray for them, but economic issues at various levels are far out of our personal control, so we wonder what else we can do!

    (4) This concern actually grips many in our nation. At a huge rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. over a week ago, the main speaker, a nationally known conservative talk show host, did not push politics as he had promised he would not do, but emphasized the need for truth in a world of untruths! People are hungry for a moral compass amid a great vacuum of morality, and it is easy to wonder how we can persuade them that this compass is found in Jesus Christ!

    (5) Illustrating the intensity of this need, the Monday after the rally, the talk show host reported that Washington reporters had expressed amazement to his associates that he kept his word and not talked about politics. They were not used to public officials who kept their word, revealing the huge moral vacuum in Washington, D. C.!



    Accordingly, we may ask, "What is the BEST thing I can I DO with my life in view of the huge spiritual needs I see?!"

    Need: "What is the best I can do with my life in our needy world?!"

  1. Like Christian believers whom the Holy Spirit gifts and assigns to serve the Lord (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), Bezalel and Oholiab were TOGETHER gifted by God so BEZALEL would LEAD and OHOLIAB would HELP him build the tabernacle, Exodus 31:1-11.
  2. By giving THESE MEN their PARTICULAR ASSIGNMENTS, God PLANNED to USE their work IN their assignments MIGHTILY to EXALT His SALVATION by GRACE through CHRIST:
    1. The names of Bezalel and Oholiab viewed together extol God's protective provision in God's salvation as typified in the tabernacle:
      1. Bezalel means "in the shadow (protection) of El (God)" & Oholiab "Father's tent," B. D. B., Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 130, 14.
      2. So, the protective supply of God's salvation (Bezalel) typified in God's tabernacle tent (Oholiab) is seen in the names of these men.
    2. The tribes into which God arranged for Bezalel and Oholiab to be born historically viewed together exalt God's GRACE:
      1. Bezalel was of the tribe of Judah and Oholiab of Dan, Ex. 31:2, 6.
      2. Viewing the history of these tribes together exalts God's grace:
        1. The only other time Scripture intertwines Judah and Dan in plot form is the Genesis 29-30 account of the origins of both tribes.
        2. There Jacob was tricked by Laban into marrying Leah before he got Rachel, gaining a wife he did not love, Genesis 29:16-31a.
        3. In grace, God sought to ease the tension in this polygamous union by making Leah fertile and Rachel barren, Gen. 29:31b.
        4. Leah bore sons until God temporarily ended her fertility at Judah's birth in grace so as not to afflict Rachel, Gen. 29:32ff.
        5. However, Rachel did not react by trusting God for a son, but, like Sarah before her, she gave her maid, Bilhah to Jacob to bear sons in her behalf, Genesis 30:1-4a with Genesis 16:1-2!
        6. Nevertheless, regardless of Rachel's faithlessness, God in grace gave Rachel's maid, Bilhah a son named Dan, Genesis 30:4b-6.
        7. Thus, as Judah was graciously born as the temporary last son of Leah to balance her lack of love from Jacob, but then, so as not to oppress Rachel, Dan was graciously given by God to Rachel's maid regardless of Rachel's unbelief, God's choice of Bezalel and Oholiab from their respective tribes viewed together in their histories emphasizes God's GRACE!
    3. The text's emphasis on Hur in the lineage of the lead builder, Bezalel, exalts Christ's fulfillment of the tabernacle's typology:
      1. In both the Exodus 31:2, 6 NIV lineages of Bezalel and Oholiab, Hur in Bezalel's line is the only man presented as a grandfather .
      2. Well, 1 Chronicles 2:19-20, 50 NIV shows Hur was the firstborn of Ephrathah whom his father wed after losing a first wife, Azubah.
      3. Well, Ephrathah, by Hur, was the great grandmother of Bezalel as well as of Bethlehem, founder of the town where King David and later Jesus were born! (1 Chr. 2:50-51; 1 Sam. 17:12; Matt 2:1)
      4. Thus, the Micah 5:2 prophecy about Messiah Jesus' birth there refers to the town as "Bethlehem (of) Ephrathah", for the Jews had a high regard for the role of one's mother in his genealogy, and Bethlehem was the great grandson of Ephrathah (through Hur).
      5. Thus, Ephrathah via Hur joins the tabernacle's lead builder (Bezalel) with the founder of the town (Bethlehem) where Christ would be born to "tabernacle" among men, John 1:14 (exkanosen is literally "tabernacled"), U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 321.
      6. Additionally, King David was an Ephrathite from Ephrathah via Hur, 1 Samuel 17:12. Since David was the ancestor of Jesus (cf. Luke 1:30-32), Christ Himself was from Ephrathah via Hur!
      7. So, the naming of Hur in Bezalel's line as the only grandfather in the Exodus 31 genealogies connects the Old Testament tabernacle with its typological fulfillment in the Person and work of Christ!
    4. In final summary then, the gifting of Bezalel to lead and of Oholiab to help him in the building of the tabernacle anticipated and highly exalts God's (1) protective provision of His salvation (2) through His grace (3) as expressed in the Person and work of Jesus Christ!
  3. Yet, ONLY as Bezalel and Oholiab HEEDED God's PERSONAL ASSIGNMENTS for EACH man in Exodus 36:1 could God USE them to EXALT His GRACE in CHRIST in His ETERNAL PLAN.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as Savior to be a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we heed God's personal mission for us and see HIM marvelously USE that obedience for His glory!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 To be very candid with you, I struggled with what to say in this closing until God clarified I should report how He applied it in my life:

(1) Last Monday afternoon, my wife received a call from one of our members who expressed an urgent need to meet with us.

When we got together, I found myself referring to our previous Adult Sunday School Class and sermon notes. The party had been away from Church that Sunday and so had not read these notes, so I shared this information so the notes could be later read for edification.

(2) Then, when I later began to prepare the next Sunday School lesson out of 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13, I found that section of Scripture was an exact application of how I had handled the counseling event on Monday. It was God's added confirmation that we were in His will!

(3) At the Board meeting Wednesday night, our web master said one of the most heavily used files is our series on divine election.

(4) That recalled a report given last Sunday from one of our members of a man who had visited our Church August 22nd on my vacation and who had asked for a copy of my election manuscript. He had been waiting for 27 years for the finished manuscript ever since he was a teacher here at our Christian school and learned of my research on the subject! I e-mailed him later to tell of our web site's election file, noting it is much more detailed and complete than the manuscript.

(5) I also recalled and sent the man a second message that in Revelation 3:14-22, the passage predicting today's Church era, this election and predestination issue is presented there, and that Christ in A. D. 90 had there prophetically critiqued Calvinism and Arminianism as does my work on our web site! Indeed, Christ had there gone much further to indicate the spiritual problems in evangelical churches today are the result of the errors of the Calvinist and Arminian theologies!

(6) On Thursday, this man responded, writing back: "Thank you so much for the information. I will enjoy reading all the material."

(7) With all these events in light of this message, God revealed that as Bezalel and Oholiab each had an assignment from Him, and just as performing their tasks was the best contribution each could make in view of God's eternal plan, performing my assignment from Him in this pastoral work is the very best contribution I can make with my life!

May we trust in Christ to be saved. Then, may we heed the personal assignment God gives us and let Him make it effective!