Exodus 35:1-19
Sabbath Regulations
1 Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, “These are the words which the LORD has commanded you to do: 2 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3 You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Offerings for the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:1–9; 39:32–43)
4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying: 5 ‘Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze; 6 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 7 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 8 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 9 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.
Articles of the Tabernacle
10 All who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all that the LORD has commanded: 11 the tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; 12 the ark and its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering; 13 the table and its poles, all its utensils, and the showbread; 14 also the lampstand for the light, its utensils, its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15 the incense altar, its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, and the screen for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, all its utensils, and the laver and its base; 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18 the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court, and their cords; 19 the garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’”
Here are two things Moses immediately reminded the people of God to follow. The first was resting from their works which could never accomplish what God did in six days. The second was offering their best to the LORD in worship and ministry. For the first, we find that the command was to teach the children of the Lord not to trust their own work but to rest from theirs as they followed God’s example in His creation. This was never meant to be an authoritative rule of the Sabbath day over man, for Jesus Himself told us that He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28) and He is our Lord over the Sabbath day of our rest in Him (Hebrews 4:4, 8-9), that is is not about the adherence to a regulation of the Law that this signifies. We are to find rest from our works to attain favor for salvation and find His work more than sufficient as we rest in Him (Hebrews 4:10) as our Sabbath. As Romans 14:5-6 reminds us, we are to see that every day can be celebrated as that day of rest from our works as we rest in His, yet this is not a matter of contention but of spiritual maturity (Philippians 3:15-16) and eternal perspective of the gospel which has been present in all the scriptures from the beginning. The second truth Moses reminded the people of was concerning serving the LORD with our best and not just going through ritualistic motions to adhere to the letter of the Law. For God desires our loyal and willing hearts given completely to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9) above rote sacrifice of our worldly possessions. For as the people of God were called to donate their best for work on the physical temple of worship, we are called to donate the best of our hearts and lives lived to adorn these temples of our individual bodies (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19) and the whole of the body is the temple (1 Peter 2:4-5) of Christ, which is the invisible church built from the collective of all true believers in Christ, in holiness devoted to the Lord and the work of the gospel which Jesus worked for us in His life, death, and resurrection. We all therefore minister as saints and servants of Christ together as priests to our God with the heart to please Him and not to vainly attempt to earn favor that only the grace in Christ and His works can offer as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father. May we then respond with holiness in our works of response as living (Romans 12:1-2) sacrifices as He changes us back into His glory, the image of God marred in the Fall of mankind in sin. These are our works and priestly ministries foreshadowed in this passage.
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