02.36. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PEOPLE

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PEOPLE
FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE TABERNACLE (Exodus 25:1-40)

“AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exodus 25:1-9.) At the outset it is to be noted the Tabernacle was to be built upon a plan and according to the position ordained of God.

There was to be no departure from the plan, even in the smallest detail, whether of pin or cord. It must be built with that minute detail from silver socket to formless badgers’ skins. The Tabernacle is not only a symbol of our Lord Jesus Christ as the dwelling place of God in humanity, it is also a symbol of the Church as the reincarnation of Christ, as His Spiritual Body on earth. The Church is to be built and administered in the world according to the pattern shown in the New Testament, in the Word of God.

Everything in respect to those who shall constitute the membership, the special and initial characteristic required of each one, the ordinances and the office bearers and the position and function of the Church in the world.

Everything was planned and arranged not only for the first century, but for this century to the last moment the Church should be in an unregenerate world.

Everything must be followed out even to the smallest detail as set down in Holy Scripture.

If any Church in the world today is not exactly according to the pattern shown in the New Testament, it is not the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what name it may bear, nor what traditions it may claim. As there was nothing superfluous in the building of the Tabernacle, nothing upon which the finger could be laid, and of which it might be said, “This is superfluous, it is non-essential; so, it is impossible to say with truth that there is a single thing in the constitution, the ordinances and the a ranged administration of the Church that is –non-essential.

“Non-essential”! That is a cheap and dishonoring phrase. No greater insult can be rendered to God than to speak of any part of His plan as non-essential. No Christian who honors his Lord should be guilty of using it. To use it under the inspiration of compromise or the belittling “get together” suggestion, is an evidence of spiritual blindness or open disloyalty to the Word. To depart from the divine plan and the divine instruction, to endeavor to change in any degree to suit the fancy of the so-called “advanced and liberal” ideas of the hour, is to deny the will of God and endeavor to build that which in the Day of Christ will be no better than the” wood, hay and stubble” which the fire is to consume. The Tabernacle was planned for all the way, even to the end of the journey.

It was to be the same kind of a Tabernacle at the end as it was at the beginning of the journey.

Thus was the Church planned for all the way, for the last century as well as the first.

Nothing has been overlooked. No matter what the discoveries of man, the definitions and declarations of science, the appeal of self-elected scholarship, the change in times and seasons, and the demand for new methods and new interpretations, the Church is to move forward on the lines and plan ordained of God.

It was planned, not by the mind of man, but by the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The contributions of the people for the building of the Tabernacle therefore set forth the privilege and obligation of the individual member of the Church to uphold and sustain it in its journey through the spiritual wilderness of the world, from its dusty and winding ways to the golden street of the upper city and the fruited shores of the river of life. The Church in the world is to be sustained by the gifts of its members, not only by exercise of spiritual endowments, but by temporal and liberal gifts.

God made it possible for the Children of Israel to give what He required of them.

“When they were about to leave Egypt He gave them favor in the eyes of the Egyptians; as it is written:

“And they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required.” (Exodus 12:36.) Whatever we have as Christians, be it more or be it less, comes from the Lord.

He provides.

Out of our poverty or out of our wealth we are to bring an offering unto the Lord and give it to Him by giving it to the Church, His Church.

We are to give because like the Children of Israel we are a redeemed people. Not like them redeemed by the blood of a mere earthly lamb, but by the blood of Him who is the Lamb of God. The price paid for us has not only redeemed us, but it has transferred us to the ownership of Him who paid the price for us.

We do not belong to ourselves. Nothing we have or are is ours.

All is His; as it is written:

“Ye are not your own, For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20.) What an assumption for a Christian to talk about things as “his.”

What a blunder of blunders for a Christian to haggle whether he shall give much or give little to the Lord.

All we have belongs to the Lord and He may take it away when He wills.

We are simply His stewards, put in charge of His property and values for a little season.

It will be a terrific awakening among Christians at the Judgment Seat of Christ to find they will be called upon to give a reckoning of the funds entrusted to them by the Lord and that property they claimed as their own, the real estate they named after their own name, and the use they made of those things. It will be startling to discover that their place in the kingdom and the glory will largely depend upon the way in which they have recognized and used their stewardship. On one occasion the Lord asked the penetrating question:

“Will a man rob God?”

He asked this question of the Children of Israel.

He answered His own question.

He said:

“Yet, ye have robbed me.”

Then they said unto Him:

“Wherein have we robbed thee?” And He answers again:

“In tithes and offerings.”

They robbed Him by withholding these tithes and offerings, tithes and offerings they were under bonds by covenant relation with Him to give. They came before Him empty handed.

They were not keeping back their own property. It did not belong to them at all.

They were withholding from Him the things that were His. In withholding those things, in taking them away from the Lord their God, they were just as much robbers, just as guilty as if they had stolen the property of a neighbor.

They were living on the benefit of stolen goods. Christians who withhold their gifts from the Lord are living on the benefit of stolen goods. The true attitude of the Christian in respect to his substance is to be found, as expressed, in the splendid utterance of David:

He said:

“For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” (1 Chronicles 29:14.) The Lord not only wants the offering, the gift, He wants it to be given in a definite manner and spirit.

He has laid it down as a law. This is the law:

“Bring me an offering: of everyone that giveth it—willingly with his heart.”

God wants the gift from the heart—He wants it as a heart gift.

He wants it as a gift given—willingly. Would you like to take a gift from a person when you felt in your own inmost soul that person did not give it willingly, gave it because he felt he had to give it, rebelled all the time at the necessity of it, begrudged it to you? Would you like to take such a gift, given in such a way?

No! I trow not.

You might use the gift, but you would be apt to despise the giver.

How much more must the living God repudiate in His inmost being a gift that is unwillingly made to Him.

He does not want a gift from any Christian who gives it under the whip lash of necessity. A man may give a thousand dollars with a reluctant hand, a resentful heart.

God will use it, but take little note of the giver, except to remember and record in the register on high that he was—an unwilling giver, a giver who gave begrudgingly.

O what think you will be the feeling of the Christian man or woman in the great day of the glory when it is made manifest to the assembled saints that this Christian was an unwilling and begrudging giver.

Let another Christian give an insignificant sum, a gift of apparently little value, yet give it to the extent of his capacity, give it with joy and sincerely wishing he could give more, that gift and the spirit of it makes music in Heaven and fills the heart of God with richer love and deeper consideration for the giver. He will take that gift and magnify it and use it. In the hour of the glory what a crown that Christian will get, not because he gave much, but because he gave it willingly, put his heart into it.

Behold the Lord seated yonder in the temple near the great treasury receptacle where die can see the people as they give in their gifts, what they give and how they give. Did the Son of God ever do anything that was a waste of time, or just accidentally or indifferently or out of mere idle curiosity?

Nay! He is seated there because He is profoundly interested in this act of giving unto God.

Read the simple statement of it:

“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” (Mark 12:41-44.) That is an enormous piece of literature, the description of that scene; what does it mean?

What does He mean?

He means the rich who had much gave out of a sense of obligation to their position, socially and religiously.

It cost them no effort.

They gave out of “their abundance.” And that word literally means, “their overabounding, their overflowing” wealth.

She gave because God was the supreme thought in her mind; because the Lord God to her was above all the treasure of earth.

She felt the honor of God’s house was above all the requirements of her own. She did not figure to herself how difficult it was to get along in her daily life, how necessary to meet the crowding expenses that never got less no matter how much she pinched, that there were others she had to care for beside herself, and when she was able to meet all this strain and drain, then whatever might be left she would give that to the Lord.

No! she did not figure and reason that way.

She just thought of the Lord and His honor first, not of her need, but His.

What a revelation it is of the wealth of this woman, not wealth in’ earthly substance, but the wealth in her soul. She knew God, that is self-evident. She had had communion with Him in and through the symbols of the temple. She knew He was Jehovah-jireh, He would provide. He had promised to be the God of the widow. She believed His Word. She trusted in Him. She would make Him first.

She gave with a willing and not with a grudging heart.

Hear what an Apostle has to say about the manner of giving:

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.’ The word “cheerful” in the Greek as everyone knows, is hilarous, and hilarous in English means -hilarious. That is the spirit the Lord wants in our giving as Christians-joyfulness, gladness, delight that we are permitted to give a gift unto Him. THE RESPONSE OF THE PEOPLE Read the response as it is recorded.

It ought to be printed in gold and hung up in a tablet in every Christian home and on a pillar in every Christian Church.

“And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and they brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the LORD. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers’ skins, brought them.

Everyone that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD’S offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.” (Exodus 35:21-29.) Just think of the gifts:

Bracelets.

Earrings.

Tablets.

Jewels of gold.

Silver.

Brass.

Blue, purple and scarlet color.

Fine linen.

Rams’ skins.

Badgers’ skins.

Goats’ hair.

Wood.

Onyx stones.

Priceless stones.

Spices.

Oil.

Sweet incense. And now behold the climax of this giving.

They brought so willingly, so gladly, so bountifully that the men charged with the responsibility of receiving the gifts came to Moses and said:

“The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. . For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” (Exodus 36:4-7.) What a testimony!

Just think of it. Not a struggle and push to get a scant enough, but so abundant, so overflowing there was more than enough—there was too much.

“Too much.”

Just think of it! The Lord not put to shame as a mendicant, turned away with a few pennies and a scowl because He had even dared to ask for that which was His own.

Nay! they glorified Him.

They filled their hands and poured it upon Him with willing hearts, hearts that had in them no sense of restraint, but only joy to give. But mark it well—the source, the spring and impulse within them.

It is as plain as noonday light. They had overflowing hearts. That is the secret. Let each one of us repeat it to himself or herself: The overflowing heart gives the overflowing gift. The Apostle draws our attention to the way in which the churches in Macedonia gave unto the Lord.

He says:

“In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2.) When the heart is right with God the hand is quickly filled with gifts for Him.

Get the vision of His gift to us and then it will be easy to give to Him.

Behold how He gave:

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9.) His poverty consisted in the substitution of the form of man for the “form of God.”

He took this form of man, the humanity He created for Himself, that through it by the death of the cross He might pay off the debt of righteousness against us and in resurrection as the eternal God-man make us rich with His risen, glorified, immortal humanity. And in giving us this He gave us something infinitely more, He gave us—Himself; as it is written:

“Who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Behold how God has given to us and then say there should be any hesitation on our part in giving to Him: “He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” And remember! in giving to the Church you are giving to the Father and the Son. You are giving to God— When you give to His Church.