Today we celebrate Thanksgiving Day.  This is a day set aside to remember and give thanks for all the blessings that we have in life.  Even when we don't have much, if we are still alive then we have reason to celebrate.  As followers of Christ, we have reason to celebrate each day, and setting aside one day in which to celebrate and give thanks to God for all that He has blessed us with is the least we can do.  Thanksgiving Day has been reduced to Turkey day or the day to plan where we are doing to spend Black Friday too often in the world today.  This was not what the Pilgrims had in mind that first Thanksgiving Day.  They were simply thanking God for keeping them safe, and we should return to that same attitude.  So, happy Thanksgiving, and remember to give thanks to God today.

Exodus 28:1 says, And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.  After the specifications for the tabernacle were complete, God told Moses to take Aaron and his sons to minister to God as priests.  Aaron had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.  Though God does not call families as preachers all at the same time today, if a person is to be a preacher, it must be because God called him.  The priests were to be God's representatives to the people and were not called simply to lord it over others.  As a priesthood of believers, our task today is to present God and His word to people and not to simply feel morally superior to them.  Verse two states, And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.  Aaron was to have holy garments made for him, for both glory and beauty.  The glory was to be shown to God, not Aaron.  We today have no special garments as Christmas, but whatever we wear should show honor to God.  Verse three says,  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.  God told Moses that he was to speak to those that were wise hearted so they could make and consecrate the garments for Aaron.  The wise hearted would be those who truly believed in God, and just as Moses called Aaron and his sons to be priests, He called these people to make garments for them.  We do not all serve the same purpose in God's kingdom, but we are all called for a purpose in that kingdom.  Verse four states, And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.  Moses was told what garments in particular were to be made for Aaron and his sons so that they could minister as priests of God.  These garments were to identify Aaron and his sons as priests, so that they might serve God and bring honor to Him.  The call from God, and not the garments, was what made them priests, just as our acceptance of the call to salvation through Christ makes us priests of God today.  Verse five says, And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.  These next few verses are simply details for the garments, beginning with what they were to be made of.  Verse six adds, And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.  This was the specifications for the ephod.  Verse seven adds, It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. Then verse eight concludes, And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

Exodus 27:9 says, And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side:  This is a continuation of the instructions for the court of the tabernacle.  Verse ten states,  And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.  The pillars and sockets were to be made of brass, or more for strength, and the hooks and fillets were to be of silver, or more ornate.  I believe that today the church building should be functional, but it should also be made as beautiful as possible to reflect honor to God.  We should never put more money and effort into maintaining the building than we do into maintaining the function of the church, which is to reach the lost and to edify one another.  Verse eleven adds, And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.  This was to be a duplication of the south side.  Verse twelve says, And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.  Moses is now given the specifics for the west side of the tabernacle.  Verse thirteen states, And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.  The east side of the tabernacle was to contain the gate.  Verse fourteen adds, The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.  Then verse fifteen continues,  And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.  The hangings at the gate were to cover thirty of the fifty Curtis.  Verse sixteen concludes, And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.  The other twenty cubits of the gate  were to be of blue, purple and scarlet.  This would be the access point.  Just as there was but one way into the tabernacle then, there is but one way into a saving relationship with God today, and that is through Christ.  Verse seventeen says, All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.  Verse eighteen adds, The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.  Verse nineteen concludes. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.  This concluded the instructions for building and furnishing the tabernacle.  Verse twenty proclaims, And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.  Moses was to instruct the people of Israel to bring pure olive oil to keep the lamps burning always.  We today as followers of Christ have the command to keep the gospel light shinning in the world always.  Just as providing the oil then was not just a one time thing, but an ongoing one, so is our command to share the gospel today.  Verse twenty-one concludes, In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.  Aaron and his sons were given the responsibility of keeping the areas outside the veil in order.  We today are given the responsibility of keeping the church in order in the world.  This is not the building, but the fellowship of believers.

Exodus 27:1 says, And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits.  There was to be an altar in the tabernacle.  I believe that today we could say that our heart is the altar of our tabernacle, where we should place everything as a sacrifice to God.  Verse two states,  And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.  There were to be horns of brass on the four corners of the altar.  The brass would keep the wood from being burned up when the fire came down from heaven.  The altar was not a place of beauty, but of sacrifice, just as it should be today.  Verse three adds, And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass.  As just stated, this was to be a place of death, not beauty.  When we come to the altar today, it should be to die to self.  Verse four continues, And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.  There was to be a brass net under the altar.  Verse five says, And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.  The net was to be placed under the altar in the middle of it.  Verse six states, And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.  Verse seven adds, And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.  Then verse eight concludes, Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.  These staves were to be made to fit into the net, just as God had instructed Moses to make it.  Just like the altar, the cross was not a place of beauty, but a place of death.  We today must sacrifice everything to God at the cross when we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

Exodus 26:31 says,And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:   The veils were to separate the holy place from the most holy place.  Only priest were allowed to go beyond the first veil.  There was limited access to God's holiest place.  This is the veil that was wrent in two when Jesus died for our sins, and as follows of Christ, we are all a part of the priesthood of believers.  Through our faith in Christ, nothing stands between God and us.  Verse thirty-two states, And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.  Then verse thirty-three adds, And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.  The ark of testimony was to be behind the veil, which separated the holy place from the most holy place.  Verse thirty-four says, And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.  The mercy seat was to be placed on the ark of the covenant,in the most holy place.  When we come to God through His mercy shown to us through the death of Christ on the cross, we see God at His most holiest.  Verse thirty-five states, And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.  Verse thirty-six says, And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.  Then verse thirty-seven adds, And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.  There was to be an ornate covering for the door.

Exodus 26:15 says, And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.  These next few verse give the specifications for the boards of the tabernacle.  Verse sixteen states, Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board.  Verse seventeen adds, Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle.  Verse eighteen continues, And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward.  This was not to be a small tabernacle, yet it was still designed to be mobile.  Verse nineteen says, And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.  Verse twenty states, And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards:  Verse twenty-one adds, And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.  Verse twenty-two continues, And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards.  The tabernacle was to be rectangular in shape, with the north and south sides being longer.  Verse twenty-three says, And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.  Verse twenty-four states, And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.  Verse twenty-five adds, And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. Then verse twenty-six continues, And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,  I believe the main thing that we can learn from this is that God has specific instructions for those who follow Him, and He expects us to obey His instructions.  Verse twenty seven says, And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward.  Verse twenty-eight states, And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end.  Verse twenty-nine continues, And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.  Verse thirty concludes,And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.  We today as followers of Christ do not have a tabernacle made by hands, but a tabernacle made by faith in Him.  The Holy Spirit indwells us, and we become a living tabernacle of God.

Exodus 26:1 says, Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.  This verse and the next several are details of how the tabernacle was to be built.  There was to be an inner curtain and an outer one.  The tabernacle was to be mobile, since God's people had no permanent home, and we as God's people have no permanent home in the world today, so we should be mobile as a church.  There were to be cherubim made in the curtains to overlook the mercy seat.  Verse two states, The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.  Verse three adds, The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another.  This gives the dimensions of the curtains and how they were to be fastened together.  This was not Moses' design but God's design.  When we are building God's church today, and I don't mean the buildings but the people who are God's church, we must follow His design.  Verse four says, And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.  Then verse five adds, Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another.  Then verse six continues, And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.  The curtains were to be made so that they would fit together and be one tabernacle.  We today, as God's people, are to fit together as one church.  God wants His people to be one people, no matter how they may in separated by the world.  Verse seven says, And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.  These were to be the outer curtains, and they were to be more durable.  Verse eight states, The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. The dimensions of the outer curtain are given.  Verse nine adds, And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle.  Verse ten continues, And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.  Verse eleven concludes, And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.  This outer curtain was not to be as pretty as the inner curtain, and it was to fit together as one curtain.  We, as followers of Christ should be more beautiful, on the inside, in our soul, than we are on the outside, or our physical being.  It doesn't matter what we look like physically, as long as we are dedicated to following God's will.  We should never put more emphasis on how a church building looks than on how the people inside function in God's kingdom.  We must also fit together as one church.  Verse twelve says, And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.  Verse thirteen adds, And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. Then verse fourteen concludes, And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.  The tabernacle was to be ornate on the inside and durable on the outside and it was to be mobile.  We as the church should be ornate on the inside, filled with God's presence, and durable on the outside, not giving in to the pressures that the world may place on us.  Also, we must be mobile, going into the world as God sends us to share the gospel with the lost world.