By Not Known
After delivering His people from slavery in Egypt, God had to educate them to live in a society that served many gods and idols. They had to learn to live aright with the worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. Teaching them about who He was and how to worship Him, exclusively had to be nurtured.
While the people of God knew their beginnings and history, they were also strongly influenced by their long association and sojourn in strange lands. They needed to know their true God, the God who dwelt amongst them, protected them and performed miracles as they journeyed.
In a sense, a kind of portable temple in the form of the tabernacle was provided to give them tangible reminders of the holy God. They were repeatedly reminded that it was not the blood of bulls and goats that God really desired. At Sinai, specific interactions were given concerning the nature, construction, and furnishings of the Tabernacle. These were not imaginative decorating schemes or fantasies of Moses, but definitive directions of God given to men to show respect and faith to the God whom they had a relationship with. It was the God who gave wisdom and creative understanding and insights of designs and artistic expressions. These were to generate awe and reverence to God and not to men.
As we look back, we know that the Tabernacle teaches us about many things. God is a creative God who has filled us with wonderful ideas and insights to designs and creative expressions. But more than that, it teaches us about our Saviour, our Deliverer and about God’s ultimate plan of deliverance and salvation.
God led the Israelites out of slavery with wonderful miracles. He delivered them from the onslaught of the pursuing Egyptian armies with walls of water. He provided light by night and clouds by day to protect the Israelites in their journey across the hostile landscape of the desert. He fed them and provided water for them and established His way for them to understand Him as their God.
This is how God has prepared people around the world and through time and space for the coming of the Messiah who is sent to save and to reconcile us to Him. Through this relationship, those who acknowledge Jesus as the Firstborn, the King of kings, Lord of lords, will be led to their eternal home. And along the journey they will be loved, protected and provided for.
Learning about the Tabernacle will give us a sense of wonder and awe because this God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, still loves, provides for and protects His people. He wants us to live with Him forever and desires us to be His children.
Today, we are His temple and He dwells in our midst. Let us truly worship Him with our living sacrifices of our passion, dedication and service.
Peter Poon