In today’s YouTube video, Rudy Ross explains that the Tabernacle was about the size of a house lot in an urban area.
Without a doubt, the Ark was the focal point of the Tabernacle. However, several other things played into the importance of the Ark as the throne of God, Israel’s King.
I am not a big details person when it comes to reading what went into the Tabernacle.
However, when we think about it, we have to realize the great care and concern the people of God gave to constructing this place of worship.
Most of us, when we think about the Tabernacle, imagine a house of worship where we hear a sermon and sing songs of praise to God.
The purpose of the Tabernacle was not for all of the people to gather and have a worship service.
Rather, it was set aside for God’s appointed people, the priests from the house of Aaron, to come and worship Him. They would then relate to the people what God revealed to them.
A small sample of God’s instructions shows what a work of art the Tabernacle was. For example, consider the first verse of Chapter 26.
“The tabernacle itself you shall make with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and crimson yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them” (Exodus 26.1).
The outside covering with woven linen and embroidered cherubim is a picture of the intricacy that God called for in the construction of a place where He would reveal His presence to the people.
Some people spent hours upon hours of work, fashioning by hand the things that we read about in Chapter 26.
You may be like me and speed read through this passage, but they gave a labor of love to construct a place where God would come to dwell.
As I read through this passage, I am reminded of two important points to apply to my own life. You may have those two and possibly add more.
(1) God is willing to meet with us.
God is a personal God and desires to involve Himself in our lives. He sent His Son into the world to die on the cross and to be raised from the dead so that we could have a relationship with Him.
We need to take advantage of that and have a place where we meet with Him.
(2) Just as God instructed His people to have a place where He would meet with them, guide them, direct them, and forgive their sins, so we do well to have a place where we daily meet with God.
Do you have a time and a place where you regularly meet with the Lord? Do you keep that appointment with Him?
God’s greatest gift to humans is that we can have a relationship with Him, learn from Him, and be guided by Him. We cheat ourselves if we don’t take advantage of that gift.
Therefore, having a time and a place to meet with God is essential for a good life.
God – the Architect
As we read through the blueprints for the Tabernacle, we learn that God is the architect of it all.
The Tabernacle was not a human plan; rather, it was God’s plan from the very beginning.
Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain (Exodus 26.30).
God initiated meeting with the people in the Tabernacle by giving them His plan. God also has a plan for us as we come to meet with Him for worship.
Let’s look at two Scripture passages that highlight that fact.
(1) Jesus had a discussion about worship with a woman by a well. He had something to say to her about the kind of worship that He wants us to experience.
“But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4.23-24).
Notice in this passage that God seeks worshipers, and He provides us with His Spirit to help us worship Him.
To worship God in Spirit and in truth means to worship Him empowered and directed by the Spirit.
God initiates this just as He initiated the production of the Tabernacle where He would meet with the Israelites.
(2) Paul always made it clear that he needed the work of the Holy Spirit. In Romans Chapter 8, he makes this astounding statement: we don’t know how to pray as we ought to pray, but the Spirit does and is willing to pray with us and through us.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8.26).
From the very beginning, God has initiated the worship that we humans give to Him.
When God called Moses to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, the purpose of getting free was not just to be free, but to worship Him.
He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3.12).
In the same way, God initiates our ability to worship Him by giving us the Holy Spirit that allows us to do so.
Think About It
Even though much of Chapter 26 is about as stimulating as reading an architect’s drawing, there are some big things we can learn from the passage.
One of them is the great care that people gave in being ready to worship God.
We need a place and we need a time where we meet with Him, and we need to draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit to help us in our relationship with the Lord.
This is God’s great gift to us, and we do well to take advantage of it.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross, Whispering Danny, and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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