Exodus 24 (Read Here)
Exodus 25:1-22 (Read Here)
Exodus 25:23-40 (Read Here)
Exodus 26 (Read Here)
Exodus 27 (Read Here)
From an initial read-through, it looks like these chapters are nothing but a list of instructions, rules, requirements…words on paper outlining what God wants, and that we have to do it. Beginning with confirming His promise to bring His people into the Promised Land and ending with the specificity of oil for the lamp inside of the tabernacle, there are very strict parameters laid out for God’s people.
It is easy to dismiss this as just a part of the Bible from the God of the Old Testament, who is so often characterized by His strictness, his rules, and his unforgiving nature. We could skate by this and deem it as “unimportant,” but it is so far from that. The God in the Old Testament is the exact same God in the New Testament, and everything listed inside these four chapters is for the benefit of His people so that we can dwell with our Father.
“And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.” Ex. 25:8-9
If you Google “Sanctuary,” it is defined as “a place of refuge or safety,” or a “holy place.” This sanctuary God instructed His people to build functioned as both. A holy place for God to dwell that became a safe place for those who needed Him—ultimately leading to Jesus: our safest place and cornerstone of the tabernacle.
Through these four chapters, there are two main takeaways:
Moses was not given a command from God and then no way to complete it. He did not build the tabernacle in the way that he wanted it. God had laid out very clear, thought-out steps for what was to be done and in what order. From the structure of the building to the very material making up what was inside, there was no piece of this plan the Lord had not thought of. If this is the thought He puts into a building, how much more intricately has He planned out our lives? God is not careless, nor is He unclear. His intention for the tabernacle was to have a place to be with us, and He cares about us so well that He made sure no piece of His dwelling place would be overlooked.
Sometimes it feels like God is absent or hard to hear. But we can rest in the reassurance that in the same way He did not leave Moses without instruction, He will not leave us in the dark. He is a clear, kind, and faithful provider. And in the same way that he guided Moses to build the tabernacle instead of giving him the reigns to design it how he pleased, He will do the same for us. For me, the surest way to see God work in my life is to sit down and make a plan for how I want my life to go—I never wait long before God turns it upside down. So let’s sing big praises to Him today for that, for His plans are always better than our own!
The list of things required to build and fill the tabernacle were what made it a Holy Place. When the Word became Flesh in the form of Jesus, a bridge was formed between God and his people. We no longer have to push for perfection before talking to God. Re-read these chapters. The list of what God needed to build the tabernacle spans 97 verses. It’s honestly overwhelming, what was required to be close to God. But His people did it because they longed for Him to be close to them.
And now we have Jesus.
Jesus is our sanctuary, Jesus became the dwelling place of God.
Every work that had to be done before God could dwell with us no longer needed to be done.
This week focus on adopting a posture of openness for what God will ask of you. A posture where the answer would be “yes” if He asks for a change in career paths, reconciliation in a relationship, or to speak more about the works He has done in your life. An answer of “yes” even if the Lord asked for an altar of acacia wood that was five cubits long and five cubits broad.
Not what we want, but what God wants.
Adopt the posture that Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane — “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:36