“The cloud
covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Those are two important lines. Why did we wade through chapter after chapter
of specifications and building plans?
Because Israel’s God was making arrangements to dwell in her midst. This is out of character for ancient
gods. Remember the Greek gods and where
they lived—high atop Mt. Olympus, far removed from the toils and travails of
human life. Sure, they’d come down once
in a while, often working mischief when they did, but their life and desire was
somewhere else. But not the God of
Israel! Although He is the creator of heaven
and earth and although the whole cosmos cannot contain Him, His desire is to be
in the presence of His people. Forty
years later, when Israel is finally ready to enter the land the Lord promised
them, Moses will comment on this, “What other nation is so great as to have
their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to
him” (NIV Deuteronomy 4:7)?
God dwells
with Israel in the tabernacle. But
consider the wider story. The creation
is cast in some ways as God creating a ‘temple’ for Himself, a place in which
He may dwell side-by-side with His beloved Creation. The Fall into sin is, in a sense, man’s
destruction of that temple. But the Lord
stays close, speaking to Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. Here in Exodus He instructs Moses in how to
build a ‘replica tabernacle’ in which He may graciously dwell. Almost 500 years in the future , Solomon will
improve that replica in a permanent temple in which the Lord will also
graciously dwell. And the dwelling of
God with man will come to its climax when the Son of God adopts human flesh and
dwells among us, revealing His glory in miracles, in the grace of the cross,
and in the resurrection. Then, read
ahead to Revelation and see what God’s ultimate plans are: a new heaven and a new earth, a new temple
for His dwelling with humanity. In that
vision, there is no temple, because the whole creation again is a temple.
Our God
wants to dwell in our presence and wants us to dwell in His. He delights in us. With that in mind, we might find an
acceptable answer to why we have so much detail about this tent in the
wilderness.
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