Exodus 31: Bezalel

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0:00 We could talk for a while about honoring your father and mother. That's a good one. Go a lot of directions. But we're not going to do that this morning. We're looking at stories in the scripture of people who have been called to things. It's fascinating to me when I take time to think about it. How much God entrusts to people. We got to this a couple of weeks ago when we were thinking about Jesus on the hill of Galilee.

0:31 He's gone through the crucifixion. He's gone through the tomb and the resurrection. He's appeared to people. He's appeared in the upper room. He's appeared to the disciples at the beach. He's appeared to 500 over a period of 40 days. But then he tells the disciples to meet me on the hill of Galilee. And he tells them that famous phrase, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, he says. Jesus of Nazareth says, now as the one who has defeated death, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And then he's like, so then I send you.

1:03 And it's so interesting that Jesus doesn't operate the authority himself, but he dispatches other people. He doesn't go around and announce the gospel himself in perpetuity. He releases the eleven. And he's like, if the gospel is going to be told, it will be told through you. If people are going to find what's true, they'll find it through you. And we talked about how crazy that is. Like that's not the way I would do it. If I have all authority in heaven and on earth, I'm going to make sure it's done right. I'm going to do it myself. And Jesus doesn't do that. He dispatches.

1:34 And then when we look at the story of Scripture, we find that this is consistent with God throughout the whole story of Scripture that often actually God is working in the world through people. And so we've been looking at stories where God is working in the world through people. And I want to look this week at one story. It's kind of a new one for me. Exodus 31, if you want to start there with me, we're going to go to a couple of places, but that's where we're going to start. Exodus 31, you can punch it in on your phone. It's the second book in the Bible if you have a paper copy like me.

2:07 Let me pray for us. And then we'll look at that. Hey Lord, thanks for bringing us here. And thanks for your story of Scripture. Would you remind us, Lord, of the ways in which you work in the world, that you work so often through people, that you might even work through us? Give us the courage to believe and receive that truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Exodus 31, right at the beginning here. Now where we are here in the story is God heard the cries of the Israelites under the

2:42 persecution of the Egyptians. He sends Pharaoh back from the wrong side of the desert. He meets him on the burning bush. He says, go back and talk to Pharaoh. Moses says, no thank you. God says, please do it. So Moses does and he sends him Aaron and Moses and Aaron stand in front of Pharaoh a bunch of times, right? Ten times. One, and they got, accomplishes a plague each time. And then they finally release him and they walk out of Egypt carrying all the wealth of Egypt with him. And then they get up to the Red Sea and now the Egyptian army is back them up against

3:15 the Red Sea. And so God splits the Red Sea miraculously. They walk across it and then it floods and kills the Egyptian army. And then they walk to Sinai. That's where we are now. Where they walk to the mountain of God. That's where God appeared to Moses and the burning bush. And they go back to this mountain to worship God. And Moses is up on the mountain talking to God. And God is describing now what he's going to do. He's describing to Moses how these people will be a unique nation. They'll be like priests for the whole world.

3:45 They'll mediate the presence of God. And God is like I'm going to describe Moses for you, a mirror of the heavenly city. And you can make it out of a tent, no big deal, but it'll be laid out just like the heavenly city. He tells him explicitly how it will be built. And then in chapter 31, he tells him who's going to build it. And let's look at that together in Exodus chapter 31 verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, see I have called by name Bezel El, the son of Uri, the son of her of the tribe of Judah.

4:18 And I have filled him with this spirit with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to divine artistic designs to work in gold, silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting and carving wood to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him, oh holy ab, who knows. And the son of a hymn, a hysma mock of the tribe of Dan.

4:52 And I have given to all, to all able men, ability that they may make all that I have commanded you. The tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat that is on it and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils and the pure lampstand with all its utensils and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offerings with all the utensils

5:25 and the basin and the stand and the finally worded worked garments and the holy garments for Aaron and the priest and the garments for his sons, for their service and the priests and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do. That's a lot of things. Beza elk is able to do, right?

5:55 He's working in metals, he's working in wood, he's working with jewels, he's working with fabrics. The one I read several times to try and figure out, I think he's mixing up the incense. Even that they're going to burn. Guy has got a lot that he is good at and he's also laid out a helper for him. If we go forward in Exodus 35, when Exodus 35 verse 30, Moses starts to tell the people

6:29 then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses and they came, wait, that's not the right place. Here we go. Then Moses said to the people of Israel, see the Lord has called Beza elk, the son of Uri, son of her of the tribe of Judah and he filled him with the spirit of God with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge and with all craftsmanship to divine artistic designs

7:02 to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting and in carving wood for work in every skilled craft. He has inspired him to teach both him and O'Holeab the son of the guy with the name of the tribe of Dan and he has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroidery in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine

7:35 twined linen by a weaver or by the art. This guy, I mean we've said it, he's very good and he's making like all kinds of stuff and the thing that's interesting to me is like the same as on the hill of Galilee. God's doing something different at Sinai, right? He realized that people separated from God, people were designed to be close to God.

8:08 In the garden they would move with God in the cool of the eating and they had the capacity to let God be God. It was the problem was they couldn't handle the proximity to God when they felt like they should be God. When they felt like they knew better, God had told them what to do but they could make better choices. When they were close to God feeling like they knew better than God, then they began to experience life as guilt, shame, fear, right? So God separated them and said, well be distant and apart but death will still find you.

8:39 But don't forget that I'll find a way to solve it and over the time he began to realize that he needed to bring the proximity of God back to humanity. And so what God is actually describing to Moses is the place where his presence will dwell. That the actual, the observable presence of God will find its way out of wherever it dwells infinitely. The presence of God that used to move with humanity in the cool of the garden, cool of the evening in the garden, will find its way down into the desert outside of Sinai and

9:12 it will go to a very specific place to this place designed specifically. If we were to take the time to read it, you would realize he describes exactly the stitching that he wants. He describes exactly the size of the angels wings that will come over the Ark of the Covenant. He describes how to make the horns on each side of the cube altar and then lay the bronze over it exactly as he wants. And Bezel El and O'Holeab and whoever else did it exactly the way God told him to do

9:47 it. One step at a time. And it's fascinating to me that God knows how he wants it done and then just these guys to do it. It's also interesting to me that he cares so much about how it looks.

10:19 I was thinking about God doing this himself and I found my way to Psalm 104. Have you ever seen Psalm 104? You should flip to it or punch it in. It's long but I'll read the high parts of it for you. Psalm 104, bless the Lord, O my soul, O Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty covering yourself with light as with a garment stretching

10:53 out the heavens like a tent. He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He rides on the wings of the wind. He makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. He set the earth on its foundations so that it should never be moved. You covered it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains.

11:26 At your rebuke they fled and at the sound of your thunder they took flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass so that they might not again cover the earth. You made springs gush forth in the valleys. They flow between the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

11:57 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell. They sing among the branches and from your lofty abode you water the mountains. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and the plans of man to cultivate that he may bring forth food from the earth and wind to gladden the heart of men. Oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen a man's heart. The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly.

12:29 The cedars of Lebanon that are planted in them the birds should. God is very good at making things. He says he has a garment of light. He says he has springs come up out of the ground and run in rivulets through the valleys in order that all the living creatures that run might have the water they need. The grass has just the things that it needs. How good is the idea of a spring?

13:00 It's a constant temperature. When it's hot out the water is still cold. It comes up out of the ground. How does it even get there? God certainly could have made himself a tabernacle, a tent in the desert. Certainly he could have. He did not need bezel-el and oh-holiab and their crew.

13:32 He had no need of them. And yet he told Moses, I picked this guy for this job. Okay, go back to Exodus. Look at Exodus chapter 40 if you're following along. Sorry to bounce you around, but it's kind of fun. Jesus chapter 40 right at the very end of the book verse 34.

14:07 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 and 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. Where the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night.

14:43 In the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. Do you catch what's happening? God has done something new in Exodus. He's brought that observable presence of the unbounded infinite God and located it in a place where people could see and feel and interact. What place in Bezelel and O'Holeab's place? The place they made with their hands.

15:16 Like they carved the wood and pounded out the gold for the cherubim that sit on top of the ark of the covenant. And then the unbounded infinite God locates himself on the mercy seat that they made with their hands. Can you imagine what that would feel like? To stand back and look at the tent that you made and remember how you wove the fabric and knit the stitches and to stand back and look and see that the God of the universe is using the thing that you made, sitting in it and dwelling upon it?

15:57 I think God let Bezelel and O'Holeab make the tabernacle. Not because he needed him to. But I think he really loved him. And he thought they are going to love this. I think they remembered the experience of making the tabernacle for the rest of their lives. I think they told the story to their grandkids.

16:27 I think they bragged about it to everyone they knew. I think they couldn't believe that the God of the universe would sit upon something that they made with their own hands. It's kind of astounding and you guys, the pattern continues. Look in Paul's letter to the church in Rome. Romans 12, if you want to follow along, otherwise you take my word for it, I got it here. Romans 12, I'm in verse 3.

17:06 Paul writes to the church in Rome trying to figure out how to live now that Jesus is king. And he says, I appeal to you brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. If you're a bezel-el and a holy ab, and Moses is like, hey, here's the thing, we're building a tabernacle that's a model of heaven. And God says, you're the guy. It's a little intimidating.

17:38 It's kind of a big job. But there's a moment there that must have been, it doesn't describe it in the scriptures, but there must have been a moment when bezel-el and a holy ab, said, okay, yeah, we'll do it. They had to make a choice. Paul's encouraging the church in Rome to continue with that choice, right? Hey, you got a life? Be available to the Lord. And then he says, this is interesting. We're going to read all section here and then come back. Verse 3, do not be conformed to the ways of the world, but be transformed by the renewal

18:09 of your mind that by seeing or that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is the good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I say to every one of you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not all have the same function.

18:43 So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith. If service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who

19:16 does acts of mercy with cheerfulness, this list makes sense to me. But Paul is saying that each person has been given a different gift that you should be using for the sake of each other and I love the story of Bezelel and O'Holeab because they're just like artists. They're not prophets. They're not wealthy giving away all the generosity. They're not acting in great acts of mercy. They're making things that are beautiful. Like the gifts are broad and diverse and Paul says to use them all.

19:50 And this is why I want to go back to verse three because what I was thinking is like it's pretty cool for Bezelel and O'Holeab to have such clear distinctions. When I think about the things that I am good at, what gifts I might have and how I might offer them to the church and to my neighbors and to my family, how I might offer them, it would be nice if I had six chapters of detailed instructions from the hand of God on Mount Sinai describing to me exactly how to do it, wouldn't it? Then I would know, okay, yes I take that or no I do not.

20:22 Right? Yes I take that, no I do not. Paul says the challenge to use your gifts for the sake of the people around you endure. But you don't get a written description because you're not Bezelel or O'Holeab and you're not building the tabernacle. So but look at Romans chapter 12 verse three, this is what he says, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you might be able to discern the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect.

20:54 Paul says the work of Christ means you don't need clear written directions, that your heart and mind can be renewed in such a way that it aligns with the will of God, that you can discern the will of God in order to use your gifts for the people around you, it's available to you. That is done something different in the person of Christ that Bezelel and O'Holeab didn't have access to.

21:25 They needed written directions even though the Spirit had come on them because they still had a heart of stone. The scripture says that when Jesus accomplished the sacrifice on the cross and rose from the dead he started something new in you so you had a heart of flesh that could respond to God. Paul says it's like the renewal of your mind. Don't be conformed to the ways of the world that says your art is to serve yourself, that says your art is to build up your wealth and to hoard it, that says your generosity is to manipulate to pump up your own self-esteem and self-worth.

21:56 Paul says be renewed, don't be conformed to the ways of the world but be renewed that you could learn the will of God that your art is to serve. And when you serve, God will use it, that's what I'm saying. Your gifts are not too small for the God of the universe to inhabit.

22:28 Your life is not so niche and forgotten that God doesn't work through it. We're not at Sinai but God still has work to do. And because He loves you, He works through you. He always has worked through the ones He loves.

22:58 The last little verse I had was from Ephesians. It says, by faith you have been saved by grace, not of your own works that no man can boast. And then it says, in order that you might do the good works that were set aside for you to do by God. You and I like Bezel and O'Holeab can do work that God uses in the world. It's very fun. Let me pray.

23:31 Hey Lord, thanks for this room and for the skill set and the gift that you've put in them. Teach us how to use our gifts for your work. Teach us how to partner with you in the world, Lord. To just have to love our neighbor as ourselves and to demonstrate that love with the gifts that you've given us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.