Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
A Dwelling Place for God | Randy Garcete
Tabernacle walk-through video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75fHH9gPNrg
Special greetings to each and every one of you. It's been a blessing to be here with you all this morning already. I invite you all to open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 36. Exodus chapter 36. I have been preaching through the book of Exodus for the past year and a half now. And today will be the final sermon out of the book of Exodus. So this is uh exciting for me personally, but I hope it's exciting for you as well. And today is uh the the what all of Exodus has been leading to. It's the final culmination of what God has been doing in the people that he has rescued from the land of Egypt. So we started uh in the first part of Exodus, uh the story opens with a group of Hebrew slaves living in Egypt as Pharaoh's Pharaoh's slaves. And we saw how God rescued this group of people out of Egypt through his servant Moses, how he brings them to himself on Mount Sinai, where he gives them the law and enters into a covenant relationship with them. And from there we see the instructions and the call to build a tabernacle, a dwelling place for God, where we will see God's glory fill at the end of chapter, Exodus chapter 40. We're gonna cover quite a bit of ground today. Uh, we're not gonna read all of these verses, but my purpose today is to show how God desires to dwell with his people. God desires to dwell with his people. When I was, oh, it's been probably eight years ago now, eight or nine, uh, I met my now wife, Christy. Uh I met her in Thailand, but I got to know her better when we moved over, when I moved back to the States, and her and her family were here on furlough. And over the course of several months, we interacted more and more, and uh God sort of stirred a desire in my heart to get to know this young woman. Uh, and eventually I was led to ask her out, to ask her on a on a date. And this uh happened to uh to fall a week before she was gonna move back to Thailand. So she accepted my offer and we decided to meet at Bob Evans in Dover, and it's still up for dispute whether that was our first date or not. Uh everyone says it is. We both I I don't like to think of that as my first date. Uh, but we met and uh and during that breakfast meeting, we talked about what would this what would this potential relationship actually look like. Um and over the course of that conversation, we sort of laid out some groundwork for how it would the this would look. Uh she was gonna move back on Valentine's Day, ironically, to Thailand, and uh where we proceeded to date long distance for about 11 months. And over those 11 months, we wrote pages and pages of letters to each other. We had um occasional uh uh sort of awkward FaceTime calls, uh, and uh but eventually she moved back and we uh were engaged, and in May of 2026, it'll be eight years that we've been married, we stood at the altar and we said our vows to each other, and we became one flesh. We went from uh dating long distance, only having access to each other uh via technology or periodically uh uh through letters, to becoming married, joining together in a covenant relationship, and dwelling together in our own little uh one-bedroom apartment in Dover, Ohio. Um God has a desire to dwell with his people. In the same way that Christy and I desire to dwell with each other, uh, to have a that close relationship with each other. God has desired from the beginning of time to dwell with his people. We see that laid out all through throughout scripture, starting in the in the Garden of Eden, where God walked with Adam and God walked with Eve and had that close communion with them. What I want to do today is trace God's dwelling place from the tabernacle found in Exodus all the way to the present-day church. And I what I want to do today is look at the layout of the tabernacle as a blueprint or a pattern that God set for Israel, where he would dwell with them in their midst, and how that would transfer over to the through the temple that Solomon built and eventually would uh be transferred to the church today through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, why does why does this all matter? Why does it matter to you and me that God desires to dwell with us? Well, I think there's two senses in which this matters, and one is for the for the unbeliever, it matters because uh God desires to know you and to to be in relationship with you. And for the believer, it matters because uh without God's dwelling presence in our lives, we have no hope in this life or the next. It's God's power dwelling with us, that relationship that we have with Him through the Holy Spirit, that we can have power over temptation, that we can have hope in uh trying circumstances, that we can uh have fellowship with our creator. So this matters for us today because our world is a lost world, it's uh it's a world that is uh in the grip of Satan and his power. And the only hope that we have is the fact that God desires to dwell with his people, and that has very, very practical implications for you and for me. So once we look at that, we're gonna end up with uh some some just practical implications for what this this actually means for us today. But I want to begin by looking at the tabernacle as a blueprint for God's dwelling place. Last time we looked at Exodus chapter 30, 35, verse, and I invite you to actually just look down at Exodus chapter 35, verse 4, just to sort of familiarize yourself with the context here. We looked at the contributions that that Israel brought for the building of the tabernacle. We saw the overwhelming outpouring of generosity that uh every man, woman, child in Israel brought for the for the building of the tabernacle. So much so that in Exodus 36, verse 6 and 7, we're told that they had to be restrained. The people had to be restrained from bringing for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more. So an overwhelming abundance and generosity and outpouring that represented the best of what Israel had to offer. So today uh we're gonna our sort of our foundational text will be Exodus 25, going all the way back to where God calls Moses and Israel to build him a sanctuary. Exodus 25, verse 8 through 9 says, And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so shall you make it. The word dwell means to inhabit or to live with, uh and it basically means to live to be together in one place, inhabiting a place. So we think of our homes today as a dwelling place. Um and it's it's sort of the the central maybe pillar of of um it's a it's a place that we find refuge in and safety in. When you see a homeless person out beside the road and he doesn't have his own dwelling place, there's a deep sadness that that we feel because there's something wrong there. Every human should have a place to dwell in. And I believe that God has put that desire in our hearts from the beginning of time that that God wants to dwell with us. And the tabernacle is how He does it in the with the people of Israel, in the story of Israel. Just a couple things to note before we we really dig into this, sort of three initial observations that the tabernacle that Israel will build is designed with actually the the first one is the tabernacle was to be a portable Sinai, a portable Sinai. So all of the of the encounters that God had with his people on Mount Sinai, uh it was it was sort of the culmination of what God was trying to do with Israel when he rescued them out of Egypt. He had brought them there, given them the law, met them with power, uh, and and really transformed them in from a group of slaves into an actual people group. They would go on to leave Mount Sinai physically, but God wanted them to carry Sinai with them symbolically. So they would leave Sinai physically, but carry Sinai with them symbolically. And the tabernacle was how God was going to do that. Secondly, the tabernacle is designed with increasing degrees of access to God's glory. The tabernacle is designed with an increase of degrees of access to God's glory. This is really interesting as we look here shortly. We're going to look through the layout of the tabernacle and then all of the articles found within the tabernacle. That in a couple ways we see this play out. And it follows a pattern of uh of Mount Sinai back in Exodus 24, where there was uh three different layers or levels of access to God on top of Mount Sinai. We had you had the people of Israel, the general population, at the bottom of the mountain, at the foot of the mountain, and we're told that Moses and Aaron, the seventy elders, went up the mountain, part way up, we're not told all the way to the top, where they beheld God, and it says they ate and drank. And it was part of the covenant um uh ratification ceremony. And from there, Moses left the seventy elders and went to the way top of the mountain, where only he had access to the presence, power, and glory of God, where he could commune with God. The tabernacle will follow that pattern in specifically in the in the way that the it's structured, one with being one being the outer courtyard, uh, which will contain, which will be uh a space that everyone has access to, every ritually clean Israelite will have access to. And then the sanctuary itself is a little bit of a smaller place, comprised of two rooms, the holy place, which uh any priest would have access to, and then further in, in the way back of the sanctuary, is a small room called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant would dwell, and where only the high priest would have access to that once a year. We also see that in the tabernacle materials that will be used, starting with bronze on the outside for the articles in the outer courtyard, and then moving to gold and fine gold within the sanctuary. The tabernacle represents the best of what Israel could contribute. We're gonna look at these articles here and just see the immense beauty and value of the materials that were used in the building of the tabernacle. Uh, from anywhere from precious metals to fine linens uh and uh and some of these other other materials. Alright, Isaac, let's go to the I don't know if my clicker is up here. We're gonna I'm gonna walk through the tabernacle layout and just to f to maybe uh for a reference point, look down at your uh your your Bibles at Exodus 36. What we're covering today is going to be Exodus 36, 8, all the way to Exodus 38, the end of chapter 38, and then the conclusion, which will be uh the last two chapters. So I'm gonna walk through this, and then at the end of this, I'm gonna play a video that shows a a walkthrough, uh a virtual walkthrough of the tabernacle, courtyard, and sanctuary. So the tabernacle layout consisted of of an outer courtyard. It was enclosed with with curtains, and this space was approximately 150 by 50 feet uh long and wide. So uh like I think a long rectangle. And within this outer courtyard, you see in the back there the tabernacle sanctuary. And this was a tented enclosure, which was comprised of the holy place, a space of like 30 to 30 by 15 feet, and then the inner room in the back of that tent sanctuary called the Holy of Holies, 15 by 15 feet. For many of you, this is not gonna be new information, but that and that's okay. I think for myself, it's it was really good to walk through this and actually be reminded again of we we we often will reference the tabernacle, but it's it was good for me to visualize what it actually looked like and uh what what uh I guess the church today is patterned after. How many of you have been to a like a uh a model or a replica of the tabernacle? Okay, all right. I'm I've I'm just I'm curious for my own my own sake, where uh like was this in is like in in over in the holy lands in Israel, or was it in there's one in Lancaster, PA as well. Have nobody? Okay Lancaster, okay, very interesting, interesting. These pictures will be from the uh the park of Timnah, I think, is just somewhere in Israel where there's a real life replica of that. Alright, so if you just look down at Exodus 38, 1 through 7. Sorry, that was supposed to be 38, verses 1 through 7. I'm gonna work my way from the outer courtyard into the Holy of Holies for reference. Verses 1 through 7 of chapter 38 details the altar of the burnt offering. And it was this giant bronze uh altar out there right in front of the tabernacle that was used as a the location of animal sacrifices for the sins of Israel. And it has, you can see on the on the corners, there's four horns. And those four horns were uh used through in various like blood, um, blood rituals, and it was also a place where if you were fleeing from your enemy, you could come into the altar, the the altar of burnt offering, and hold on to one of those those horns. Like, I don't know, picture this as a horn, just hang on to that, and your enemy would not be allowed to kill you. It was a place of mercy. This altar burnt offering also foreshadows the the death and the suffering of Christ as a final atonement sacrifice of Christ on the cross. So a powerful picture of of uh of the cross really set as a in as a blueprint back in the structure of the tabernacle through the altar of burnt offering. All right, next, right in front of that, right at the entrance of the tabernacle was the bronze lava, or the, I guess some some of your Bibles might say the bronze basin or the bronze sea. And this you can look down at verse 8 of chapter 38, and it's just one verse. He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze. I find this really interesting. From the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting. Uh so I don't know about you, but but I don't have any mirrors in my house that that look like that. Uh interestingly, ancient mirrors, mirrors in the ancient world were often made of of brass or or polished, polished brass or bronze, where you could get a sort of a faint reflection in that. But this was contributed by the ministering women, melted, probably melted down and reshaped into this bronze wash basin. And it's this wash basin that would uh that would serve as a as a as a place for physical cleansing and washing and purifying of the of the priests before they entered the sanctuary of God, before they did animal sacrifices. Um it also symbolizes for us today, I believe, it symbolizes uh cleansing for us today. All right, we're gonna move to the sanctuary now, and I I've already covered some of this already, but if you flip back to Exodus 36, the reason I want I'm pointing these verses out to you is that sometimes when you read through scripture, you can really get lost in all the nitty-gritty details. And it helps me to see a picture, maybe a basic label, and then and connect it to a chunk of verses. The sanctuary, uh, we read those details in chapter 36, verses 8 through 38. And this will lay out the the details of the tent itself. So the tent itself, the covering of the tabernacle, is comprise was comprised of four layers of fabric. The outer layer was made of animal. Leather. It was probably weatherproof, rainproof, pretty, pretty hardy stuff. Underneath that was a layer of, I believe it was red uh goat skin or goat um uh goat hair. And underneath that was another layer of of sheep wool. And then all the way at the bottom layer, which served as the ceiling, from the inside looking up, you would see the ceiling of the tabernacle was made of fine linen that was dyed very various different colors. Again, the the sanctuary is made up of these two different rooms, the holy place. Within the holy place, the articles that were uh that were in that room, a 30 by 15 room. I don't know, you could what is I don't really have a good reference point in here for 30 by 15. I don't know, maybe like half of this this room. It's about 35 feet long. Anyways, it com it was comprised of the table of showbread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. And then the holy of holies uh is where the Ark of the Covenant rested. So now we're in the holy place, that first room in the tabernacle, and that is where the table of showbread was. That's chapters uh Exodus 37, 10 through 16. This table was a table made of acacia wood, and that was covered with with gold, and on this table was where uh the Levites, the the priests would make the bread for offering and place it on this table. It's where they had the the dr the uh where they kept the pitcher for the drink offering, and then a pitcher for the incense that they would pour out on the live coals on the smaller altar of incense that was right at the entrance of the Holy of Holies. Interestingly, Ray Vanderlyn brings this out that the uh the the many pag other pagan religions around them, around Israel, would leave the bread on the table as an as uh a food for the idols or food for the gods. But the the Levites would leave the bread there for a week, but then they would come back and eat it themselves because they recognize that we don't feed God, God feeds us. Our food comes from God. The golden lampstand, this served as a functional uh means of lighting the room. This was a dark room, totally closed off, no windows. And this lampstand with seven different candlesticks uh was shaped like a sort of like a tree or a bush with almond blossoms. This uh this golden lampstand was made out of a single chunk of gold. It wasn't cast together with various pieces. This was made out of one single uh talent of gold, which is is incredible. Solid chunk of of gold there. And this symbolized God's light. Um we started a tradition in in uh at our dinner table. Uh, this is taken from uh Habits of the Household book, where before we eat, we'll light a little candle, and all of us together, the kids, uh, will say this too, we'll say, Christ is light. It's just a fun little tradition to do before we pray. And uh I had to think of this this golden lampstand, the light of the world. Right in front of the curtain that led into the Holy of Holies was the altar of incense. And this was a smaller version of the altar of burnt offering. Again, four little horns on each by each corner, and this was where a fire would be kept burning and incense would be poured over the coals, and when the the incense or the the the oil was poured on the on the coals, it would s uh smoke would fill the room. And the high priest would would use that and take it with him into the holy of holies as a shield of protection from the powerful presence of God. Because it was God's presence was so holy, so so overwhelming that he he would take use a smoke from the incense as almost as a covering or a uh a shield from God's awesome presence. This was to be kept burning day and night. It never stopped. There was always a fire there, and uh every day, every night, incense was poured on this as a almost as a perpetual or continual offering of worship and and prayer before God and his presence. Lastly, you would enter this room, this curtained room, a little fit room 15 by 15 uh space, where this was uh the the core, the center, the seat of God, uh a golden um ark. And within that ark, uh we're told it contained the two stone tablets that were given to Moses, a jar of golden manna, or a golden jar of manna uh taken from the food that God had used to sustain Israel, and then Aaron's staff that had miraculously budded. On top of the cover was called the mercy seat of God, and this was between uh on each side of that was two cherubim or angels whose wings touched. And it's in that space between the two angels in the that God's uh God's dwelling place sat. It was his footstool. Quite an amazing, amazing layout. I'm gonna go ahead and play the video the walkthrough video if if you don't mind. Um, Isaac, if we could have that. Thank you, Isaac. The tabernacle was a blueprint for God's dwelling place in Israel. We're told at in chapter forty, I invite you all to look ahead to chapter forty, actually, the the two verses right before that. 39, verse 42. According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it, as the Lord had commanded, so they had done it. Then Moses blessed them. Such a beautiful conclusion of all that God was doing from the time that he had rescued these these slaves that had no identity other than Pharaoh's Pharaoh's uh little minions to a people that had a relationship with the living God, and now a place for him to dwell in. Chapter 40, we're told uh the details of Moses erecting the the tabernacle, laying out all all of this this uh these constructed materials. And I'm gonna read the last four verses. Verse 34. 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. 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. Quite amazing, amazing account there. I invite you all to flip forward now. I'm not I'm not starting a study on Leviticus now. I just I'm not doing that quite yet, but we are gonna look at sort of the next scene after this takes place. It's an amazing story. Leviticus chapter seven. Verse Oh, actually, it's Leviticus chapter nine, where God consecrates, there's a consecration of Aaron and his sons, which will be the Levitical priesthood. They spend around eight days sort of preparing uh to take their on their new role as pr as as a priesthood. And on the eighth day, we are given this account where they have the first sacrifice on that that giant bronze altar. They have the first sacrifice there, and they're not the ones that light the fire, they're not the ones that kindle the fire. If you look at the end of chapter 9, verse 22, then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from the off from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering, the peace offerings, and Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, that sanctuary sanctuary we just looked at. And when they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from before the Lord. So picture the little room where the Ark of the Covenant was. Fire, like a fireball, came out from before the Lord, and traveled out through the back of that tent to that that bronze altar, and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. That's all you can do when you encounter the living God and his power is fall to your face and worship. Fast forwarding to Second Chronicles 7. I invite you to turn there. This is about 500 years later, where Israel has settled in the land of Canaan. They've had their first kings. Uh they've had you know King Saul, King David, and then King Solomon, which would build the first uh temple in Jerusalem. And this tabernacle would would uh be an expansion of the tabernacle that Israel had built back in Exodus. And the same thing happens again here, where God's God's presence and glory is transferred from the tabernacle, which is this temporary portable Sinai, if you will, and is transferred over into the temple. I'm just gonna read this, so it's so powerful, and it's it's sort of leading up to something for us in the New Testament. As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, and the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because a glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Powerful. Again, that's the people's response when they encounter the the fire of God, the power of God. That's all you can do, is fall down and worship at the power and the glory of God. Fast forwarding to the New Testament, we're told that Christ became the embodiment of God's dwelling place. Christ became the embodiment of God's dwelling place. John 1, verse 14. And this verse is in a nutshell the miracle of Christmas, the Christmas season that we're in right now. It says, 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 word dwelt among us can be could also be translated as that the word became flesh and tabernacled among us, or pitched his tent among us. Christ would go on to suffer and die as a final sacrifice on that, not the bronze altar at this time, but the cross. Christ's sins, our sins were laid on Christ, and he was taken outside of the city and sacrificed on the cross for you and for me. And it's in that moment we're told that the temple veil was torn in two. So do you remember seeing that that that that the veil or the curtain with all the angels on it? Um, that was a tabernacle, a portrayal of the tabernacle curtain. But picture something like that in the temple when Christ died, is torn from top to bottom. At the final sacrifice of Christ. We're told in Acts, we'll flip through there. We're covering a lot of ground because this is a theme that runs from the beginning of time all the way to the end of time. Turn to Acts chapter 2. This is about 50 days after Christ's death. Christ has come back to life. And again, keep in mind that the two previous pictures of God's fire coming out and and uh overwhelming his people with his power. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mush mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with this Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And this was the moment where God's dwelling place goes from not the tabernacle, uh goes from the temple to the church. The moment that veil was torn in into, God's spirit was released at on the day of Pentecost on his people, and little tongues of fire rested on all the apostles and the people that were present there that day. And again, like Israel, they worshiped because they had encountered the fire of God, the power of God. No longer was it contained to a single place that a single man would enter or access once a year. God's spirit and his dwelling place had transferred to a people, to the hearts of his people. And that's when the church became God's dwelling place. Apostle Paul will go on to say in Ephesians 2. We'll flip uh flip to those scriptures as well. Ephesians two nineteen through twenty-two. And this is where he lays out this reality that we have become the temple of God. We have become the dwelling place of God. Ephesians two nineteen through twenty two. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus. Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being together, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And here's the key, and this is what's true about you and me today. This isn't just true about the early churches, this is true about you and me. If you are in Christ, if you're a follower of Jesus and his spirit dwells in you, these verses are true of you and me. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And he's saying, Church, you are the dwelling place of God. If you go to uh the replica of this tabernacle that we we looked at, if you go to any replica of the temple, if the temple is ever rebuilt in Jerusalem, it will not contain the Spirit of God. Because you are the dwelling place of God. You are the dwelling place of God. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, the greatest privilege of the Christian church is to know that God dwells within her. It is the most vital matter of all. The moment you lose sight of the fact that the church is the habitation of God by the Spirit, you have already gone wrong, fundamentally and essentially. You're the dwelling place of God. John Stott says the church is not a club. And I might just insert in their grace point. We're not a club, not an organization, not a denomination, uh, it's not a national church. It is a spiritual house built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and in which God Himself lives by His Spirit. This is what the church is: God's permanent historical habitation in the world. Such a powerful idea. That's not just an idea, it's it's it's reality. And I think uh we forget sometimes the implications of that. What does that actually mean for us today? So if we are God's dwelling place, if we are where God's Spirit dwells, that has implications for our lives today. And as God's dwelling place, we are called to three different things. We're just gonna quickly go through this, and this has real life application for us today. Number one, we're called to live in holiness. As God's dwelling place, we are called to live in holiness. The Levites uh and the priests could not enter the sanctuary, could not come before God's presence without going through all the cleansing and the purification, uh, the washing with water. Um we cannot uh expect to house or or be inhabited by God's uh spirit and presence if we also house sin in our lives. We are called to live in holiness. Secondly, we are called to live in unity. As the dwelling place of God, we are called to live in unity. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 17, 17, do you not know that you're God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. He's not talking about the temple temple, he's talking about ye the church temple. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. We are called to live in unity. So when, as believers, when we tear each other down, when we seek to destroy or harm each other, we're not we're not we're not causing division or disunity amongst ourselves. We're we're we're harming the dwelling place of God. Because his spirit is is dwelling within the in the church. And when divisions happen, when when uh when we tear each other down, we're we're actively attacking the dwelling place of God. So we're called to live in unity. Thirdly, we're called to live in mission. Christians today or or the church today is is uh one one term that we we could be known as is the priesthood of all believers. That there's no longer a Levitical priesthood that's sort of set up set up aside to do all the work of the church. It's it's everyone who is a follower of Jesus is also a priest. And this means that we are called to carry out the mission of God in the world around us. The priests would carry the Ark of the Covenant with them, they would uh carry the tabernacle wherever they went, and wherever they went, the world around them would come in contact with the tabernacle and the dwelling place of God, and they will be changed by it. And it's the same way for us today, if we are in fact the dwelling place of God, we carry his presence with us into the world around us, and that has implications for our work, our families, uh, our neighborhoods, the way that we encounter the world around us. All right, in conclusion, we've looked at the the tabernacle in Exodus as a uh almost a blueprint or a pattern for what would become the dwelling place of God in the church today. We saw God's desire to dwell with his people starting all the way in Genesis and then sort of manifesting itself in the life of Israel up into the New Testament with the with the birth of the church. But I want to leave you guys with this uh a fine the final, I think the final and fullest expression of God's dwelling place, which will is yet to come in all of its fullness, and that's found in Revelation 21, verse 3. And this will be uh the the fullest expression of all that we looked today in the new heaven and the new earth when uh time as we know it comes to a close. John is describing this in a vision. He says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. Amen. The beautiful conclusion to the story of history when God's dwelling place will be fully realized in the new heaven and in the new earth. I invite you all to stand, and I'd like to close with a benediction found in uh Ephesians 3. Paul is writing to the Ephesian church, and uh this is my prayer for for us today, is my prayer for myself as well as my my family, and I I'd like to extend that as a prayer to to you all as friends. Um I am gonna read this as a prayer. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you grace point to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen.