GOD DWELLS AMONG HIS PEOPLE
In this week’s lesson, we are going to explore that healthy relationship of blending obedience with presence. This lesson is important because God wants His people to live in His presence and experience His glory. To experience the loving presence of God, we must follow God’s plan for our lives. Beginning in Exodus 25:1 and extending through Exodus 31:18, God gave Moses instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle and related issues. So we will take a brief tour of God’s “home” on earth, which He commanded the Israelites to build after He established a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Exodus 25-40 describes in great detail the blueprints and building of the tabernacle and its furnishings. Consider why so much time would be spent in God’s Story to describe a tent. I have furnished a print of that “tent” for us.
Read Exodus 26:30-33 Follow God’s Plan
We can learn a great deal about God in a tour of His temporary earthly home. God told Moses “you are to set up the tabernacle”. The pronoun “you” is singular, so Moses was given the responsibility for getting the job done. Moses is the one to who God gave the covenant- Ten Commandants. God was trusting Moses again! The term “tabernacle” means dwelling place or home. Thus God wanted a home for Him in the midst of His people. Yet God’s presence with His people was tied to their obedience. When the Lord instructed Moses to set up the tabernacle “according to the plan”, He was referencing to the specifications given to Moses “on the Mountain”. Obviously, God could dwell anywhere on earth at any time He chose. The real issue at hand was whether His people desired His divine presence enough to follow God’s plan exactly. So this became an issue of free choice for the Israelites.
No one could see God’s face but He provided the visible symbol of His presence. The passages dealing with the instructions for and construction of the tabernacle demonstrated God’s desire to dwell among His people. These instructions include the curtain, described in verse 31, separated the two sacred rooms in the Tabernacle- the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The priest entered the Holy Place each day to commune with God and to tend to the incense altar, the lampstand, and the table with the Bread of the Presence. The Most Holy Place was where God Himself dwelt, His presence resting on the atonement cover, which covered the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place. Even he could do so only once a year (on the Day of Atonement) to make atonement for the sins of the nation as a whole. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain in the Temple (which had replace the Tabernacle) tore from the top to bottom (Mark 15:38), symbolizing our free access to God because of Jesus’ death.
No longer did people have to approach God through priests and sacrifices. This set the stage for all of us to pray directly to God and not for any of us to go through intermediary. But think back to the curtain that God had Moses make and its direct, real connection to God’s Story and understand our God as a God of details. Just as He has attended to the details of the construction of His tabernacle, He attends to the details of our lives and redemption. Hebrews 8:5 points out the earthly tabernacle was a precise copy or replica of God’s heavenly home. Now we see that having a precise copy or replica was to remind the people God’s ultimate purpose was to have them dwell with Him eternally.
Read Exodus 29:43-46 Encounter God’s Presence
Now God promised to manifest His presence among the people. Thus the tabernacle would become the place where Israel’s God revealed Himself and lived among His people. Moreover, God desired for His people to encounter His presence. God Told Moses He would meet with the Israelites at the tabernacle (tent of meeting). The term “meet” carried the idea of an appointment, a set time when people would gather to hear God’s words. As a result of God’s presence, the place would be consecrated, literally “made holy” by God’s glory. God promised the full weight of His majesty on behalf of the people as they met to praise and to thank Him for all He had done for them.
God promised to consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. By consecrating, or making things holy, God was instructing what was done there would be acceptable to Him. God also promised to consecrate Aaron and his sons. The priesthood belonged to Aaron and his descendants, as part of God’s ordained purposes for them to serve as priests. However, it is imperative for us to note that Moses, the priests, and Israel were just going through the symbols. The actual consecration of bot objects and persons was done by God. His grace made them effective. The purpose of this ritual and this consecration was that God would “dwell among the people of Israel” (v. 45). This ritual was to help them know that He was the God who had redeemed them from Egypt. The final phrase “I am the Lord their God” (v. 46) is uniquely a covenant phrase. Because they were His people through the Exodus and the covenant, they had a special ritual of worship. Why is encountering God’s presence regularly with other believers so important? (Sharing His love, care and promise.)
Read Exodus 40:34-38 Acknowledge God’s Glory
A lot has occurred from chapter 29. We know that the people grew restless while Moses was receiving God’s instruction and resorted to idol worship. Remember, God had called Moses to the top of the mountain four times. Moses destroyed the golden calf and then interceded for the wayward Israelites (32:1-34:35). Once the sin of idolatry had been removed from the camp (32:27-35), God began the restoration of the broken covenant. This gave Mosses a new vision of God. Moses knew that only God could reinstate the covenant as it had originally been God’s gift. So Moses pled for a continued reassurance of God’s presence and blessing through God’s pardon. God gave Moses reassurance that the covenant was being reinstituted (34:10). When Moses came down from the presence of God (34:29-35), Moses’ face was glowing. The attitude of the people toward Mosses reflected the awe with which they held for him, after seeing his face (34:30). So the tabernacle was completed as God had instructed.
The symbol of God’s presence had descended from the mountain and moved to the tabernacle. God revealed His glory in “the cloud” that covered the tabernacle.
The cloud” was first mentioned in Exodus 13:21-22. The cloud represented God Himself. This visible movement served to demonstrate to both Moses and Israel that God accepted and approved their labors. The glory of God so filled that tent that no longer could even Moses enter the Most Holy Place. The people broke their camps and made their marches in obedience to the lifting or settling of the cloud. God was now the people’s constant companion and guide. God is our constant companion and guide. The final reminder of the fire by night very likely referred to the burning presence of God’s glory. 500 years later, Solomon built the temple, replacing the tabernacle, and God filled it with His glory in the same way.
As the book of Exodus ends, the Israelites are free, redeemed people. On the way to the land of promise, accompanied and guided by the almighty God. So it has ever been. Those who have been redeemed by God are guided and sustained through the wilderness as they journey to the new land of promise- eternity. In God’s Story, God always leads those whom He has redeemed.