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In Exodus 25: 8 – 9 we read the words of God to Moses, “And let them [Israel] make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.”
Moses shared sweet communion with the Lord for 40 days and nights on the top of Mount Sinai. Most people think of this strictly as the occasion when God transmitted the Ten Commandments for His people to abide by. However, the Law was not all that Moses received; he was also given the pattern or blueprints for a building that would later be known as the Tabernacle.
God was saying that the people were to build a sanctuary in order that He may dwell among them. From the beginning, the Lord has earnestly desired to possess a people who would, in addition to upholding His laws, delight in His coming into their midst for the express purpose of sharing intimate fellowship.
Today the Lord no longer dwells in a physical structure, but in His faithful people, the Church. ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them’ and ‘I will be their God, and they shall be my people’(2 Corinthians 6:16).
GOD IS PREPARING HIS PEOPLE TO MANIFEST HIS GLORY TO THE WORLD.
Frequently, I hear believers discussing God’s plans for the last day’s church. The Lord’s strategy for His church is the same today as it has always been: preparing a people to display His glory to the nations!
It will take a powerful manifestation of the presence of the Lord to convince the ungodly masses of our day of the truth and power of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Yet this is what the Lord is determined should happen! The glory of God is revealed only through His Church, the place where He now tabernacles on earth. “Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself] (Ephesians 1:23, Amplified).
THE PLACE OF GOD’S HABITATION
God instructed Moses to tell the people to “…Make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8, Emphasis Added). Sanctuary is a sacred or holy place. It is a term that was never used to designate a building or structure used for mundane or irreligious purposes. Moreover, the root word is “qedesh,” the same word utilized in Ezekiel 20:12 to describe the Lord Himself “…I am the Lord that sanctifies them.” The point is that God will not dwell just anywhere; He must have a holy habitation and separated people to inhabit.
The Lord longs to show forth His resplendence to a world that is without hope and the knowledge of Christ. Often, however, He cannot, because there is a short supply of what the New Testament calls ‘vessels of honour’ (See 2 Timothy 2:21). As vessels, or instruments in the service of our Master, we can bring either honor or shame to Him. “In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing” (2 Timothy 2:20-21, The Message).
As we submit the word of God and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will find that we are being patterned and prepared to carry the presence of the Lord wherever we go. The blueprint is the word of God. We are to build just so, not compromising, but adhering strictly to the pattern of the Bible. We we were saved to be silver platters, not compost buckets!
Get out of bed, Jerusalem!
Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.
God’s bright glory has risen for you.
The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,
all people sunk in deep darkness,
But God rises on you,
his sunrise glory breaks over you.
Nations will come to your light,
kings to your sunburst brightness.
Look up! Look around!
Isaiah 60:1-4, The Message
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