Saturday, 20 June 2020 Exodus 25:1-22
And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. -Exodus 25:8
The Old Testament passages give us insight about God and His dealing with man. In today's reading we have a picture of God’s indwelling in midst of His chosen people. In the Garden of Eden, God and man were together but due to man’s sin, this relationship was broken. Genesis 3:23,24 says that the Lord sent him out of the garden of Eden. But our loving Father wasn’t happy sitting in heaven watching man perish in his sin. He had already planned the recovery of this divine relationship with man even before the foundation of this universe. Ephesians 1:4 says " …just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love."
Starting from the Garden of Eden, this eternal plan of redemption was in action. Genesis 3:15 God gives us the promise about this redemption through the Seed of the woman. Over the ages God's plan became clearer. He chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and gave him the promise that through his seed all the nations in the world will be blessed. The descendants of Abraham became the chosen people of God to carry out His plan. Hence they were now freed from the slavery in Egypt and are brought forth to become a nation to carry out the divine plan.
All through the ages, God wants to dwell in the midst of man, but not according to man's plans but according to God's plan. Here we see God giving clear instruction to Moses to make a Tabernacle for Him to dwell among His people. Every detail was shown to Moses. We have to approach God in God's terms not on our terms- this is very important. Even the minutest matter carries importance and hence we should be very careful while doing anything for God that we do it in His terms.
The Tabernacle built in the wilderness foreshadows Christ in every aspect. We read in John's Gospel 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." In the literal translation it says "Tabernacled among us". Combining both the New and the Old Testament passages gives us the understanding of God living in the midst of His people. He is Immanuel-God with us!
As we move forward in the Scripture we see to our amazement God coming and indwelling in our lives. This is the next picture a reader must carry in his/her mind as we ponder this wonderful topic of the Tabernacle. God now tabernacles in every believer. We read it in 1Cor. 3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Hence we ought to be careful that our lives are patterned according the heavenly design. Our model is none other than Jesus. He is the real Tabernacle model for us. In Him God dwelt in fullness. Hence we too need to clearly see from the Word how our lives have to be built up so as to become a holy temple of the living God, so that we can be with Him always. Please meditate on 2Corinthians 6:14-18.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, please help me to order my life according to Your divine plan so as to be in Your presence always. In Jesus name. Amen.
Listen: ‘To Be a Sanctuary’