Building a tabernacle of meeting: The Holiness of God

The holiness of God would undoubtedly be found in the tabernacle of meeting. In 2 Samuel 6 we read the rather difficult to understand story of David going to fetch the Ark of the Covenant which carried God’s Holiness, Glory and Presence in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. We see how the ark was transported on an oxcart and when the oxen stumbled, Uzza put forth his hand to stabilize the ark to prevent it from falling, but he instantly died. At first glance this sounds unfair to us. Surely Uzza had good intentions, why the harsh reaction? Until we understand the nature of God’s Holiness.

Consider the following scriptures:

Exodus 33:18-23 AMPC
18 And Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory…. 20 But, He said, You can not see My face, for no man shall see Me and live…. 21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand upon the rock, 22 And while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.

Leviticus 16:2
2 The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother he must not come at all times into the Holy of Holies within the veil before the mercy seat upon the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.

There are numerous other scriptures I can quote as an illustration of the fact that a mere human being cannot just enter into the Holy Presence of God at will and in any way, and live.

But God…wanted to make a way for us to enter His Holy Presence. In Moses’s instance He hid him in the cleft of a rock and covered him with His hand so that Moses could see and experience at least something of His glory. Once a year Aaron could enter the Holy of Holies after he brought the sacrifices and the people repented of their sin - God allowed him into that Holiest of Holy places because God is a merciful, loving God that desires us to enter into His presence.

In Ex 25:14 we read that there were specific instructions for how the ark was to be transported. It had to be transported with wooden poles and rings, ensuring that the Ark would not be touched directly. After Uzza’s death, David was scared to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, but after three months he went to fetch the ark again – and this time the Levites were carrying the ark in the proper manner, with sacrifices and much praise and worship to God.

God made a way for us to enter into His Holy Presence, but even with the best of intentions it does not come through our own efforts, wisdom or strength. However good our intentions are, there is only one way to enter into the Holiness of God and live and that is through the blood of the lamb.

When Jesus died, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn and God invited us to enter into His Holiness, into His throne of grace with boldness (Heb 4:16). In John 14:6 Jesus declared “I am the way the truth and the light no-one comes to the Father but through Me”.

Jesus became the sacrifice brought so that we could enter into the Holiness of God with boldness and live. In Is 61:10 we read that He clothed us with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness. Without His covering we cannot enter into His Holiness. If we try to do this in our own ways, strengths or making our own plans we are sure to fail, but let us go to Him asking for His covering, His hand, His garment, His blood, His robe of righteousness, so that we can boldly enter into His Holy Presence. 

 

He invites us into His Holiness, are you and I ready to enter in? 

 

Agnus Dei - MW Smith

 

Building a tabernacle of meeting: The Location

Moses had a tent of meeting which he pitched outside the camp, a place where he could meet God face to face as a man with a friend (Lev 33). When Paul came to the lord, he chose to go to Mount Sinai in Arabia (Gal 2). He went to the place where God came down on the mountain to meet Moses and the people, the place where God gave them His Word. Thus, it may be that many of us have a physical place where we meet God in our quiet time. Maybe in the lounge or a special place in our garden. It is in these earthly locations that we often meet Him and build altars of prayer.

God gives us promises in His word that He will dwell in and amongst us. Consider these scriptures:

• Lev 26:11 “11 I will set My dwelling in and among you, and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you.” AMPC
• Ps 22:3 “But You are holy, enthroned (dwells in, take up His seat of dominion) in the praises of Israel.” NKJ, AMPC
• 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 13 And when the trumpeters and singers were joined in unison, making one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments for song and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever, then the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
• John 14:23 “23 Jesus answered, if a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him”. AMPC
• Acts 2:1-2 And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place, 2 When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

When we are in covenant with God we belong to Him we love Jesus and live in the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit. He comes and make us His dwelling place. In us and amongst us. He dwells in, inhabits our praises. He pours out His presence on us in the spirit and in the natural – in and on the land where we worship Him.

"Come Lord Jesus Come, make us your dwelling place.

 Pour out your spirit in us and amongst us and on our land"

 

 

Pour your spirit out - Shannon Wexelberg

 

Building a tabernacle of meeting: God's Faithfulness

Faithfulness is a rare quality we often struggle to find in our human relationships. It's all to easy to walk away from things that disappoint or hurt on the one hand, and it is just as prevalent to serve our own selfish purposes in relationships and business etc. and in the process sacrifice faithfulness.

 But God... 

God's faithfulness is steadfast and uncompromising.  It is protective, safe and a shield to us.  It is NEVER changing.  He remains the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  Forever.  Even when we are unfaithful to Him, He is the one who remains faithful.  

Psalm  91:4-6

He will cover you with His feathers;
you will take refuge under His wings.
His faithfulness will be a protective shield.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night,
the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ the plague that stalks in darkness,

There are so many scriptures and pictures of God's faithfulness in the Word it is hard to choose which ones to highlight, but here are a few that stands out for me:

In Gen 24 we read how Abraham sends Eliezer to find a wife for Isaac.  How does it happen that Eliezer finds Rebekkah at the well? Does she just randomly give him and his camels water?  Just randomly appear on exactly the right day and time of day to do so?  Does she just coincidentally happen to be of the family of Abraham?  All this just happened randomly after Eliezer prayed specifically for that? No - God's faithfulness answered his prayers to provide the right woman and God does so supernaturally.

In Exodus 4:27 God tells Aaron "Go meet Moses in the dessert"  Have you ever wondered how did Aaron find Moses in the desert after Moses left Egypt 40 years ago to dwell in the Medianite desert? There were no email nor Whats-App to stay in contact with. So Moses just happen to be at "the mountain of the Lord" on the specific the day Aaron reached that particular mountain?  No - God's faithfulness in action.

And so we will be able to point out many stories from scripture that point us to God's faithfulness.  But God's faithfulness really stands out for me the best in the description of the moment He made covenant with Abraham (Gen 15).  Usually when covenants are cut both parties agree to the blessings and curses of that covenant.  In this case though, we see Abraham doing the following:

1) Abraham asks God how he will know that what God promises will be fulfilled (do I detect a slight doubt here?)

2) Abraham believed God enough to be obedient and start to prepare the sacrifice and the Word says it was counted to him as righteousness.

3) He chased away the vultures that came to steal away the sacrifice. (Are we chasing away the vultures of darkness that comes to steal our faith in God's promises to us?)

4) When the deep darkness and terror came to instill fear and oppress, God did not leave Abraham alone.  He spoke his promise in the presence of the terrifying darkness.  He appeared as a torch and a smoking oven so that the darkness who does not comprehend the light (John 1:5) will know that the light will overcome the darkness because God is faithful in his promises and to His Word.

Essentially God made a one sided covenant with Abraham.  God put Abraham into a deep sleep.  God knew neither Abraham nor us will remain faithful to the covenant.  God promised to keep both His side and Abraham's side of the covenant.  He kept His side of the covenant and sent his Son to take the consequences - the curses - of the broken covenant upon Him.  He died on the cross and became sin for us.  That is God's faithfulness - providing Himself for delivering both sides of the blessings and curses of the covenant He chose to make with us.   

When you think about God's faithfulness - what picture, story, scripture, analogy etc comes to mind first?  I want to encourage you this morning to think about that this week and to make time to write it down in your journal or dairy or write/sing a song or draw/paint a picture, should that be one of the talents God gave you.  

I would love to hear your stories

Lets us worship today with Brian Doerksen:

Your faithfulness

 

 

    

Building a tabernacle of meeting: Rejoice in the Lord

One of the more difficult things to do when life is really hard is to retain and live in joy.  To rejoice in God with praise and worship when there is so much hardship and loss around us  remains a challenge.  Yet in the tent of meeting - In God's presence there is perfect joy as fear is driven out by love and compassion and grace. When we focus on His goodness and sovereignty, greatness, grace and holiness we can only praise and worship Him in spite of our own struggles.  

This week I share with you a message that was very encouraging to me this week.  It comes from Ellel Miniseries' devotional "Seeds of the Kingdom" and its about "Habakkuk's Song" in Habakkuk 3:17-19 (AMPC)

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,  ¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

¹⁹ The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!

 You can find the "Seeds of the Kingdom" devotional here: 

Habakkuk's Song

 ...and then let us build the tabernacle of worship with song of cornerstone baptist church: 

Habakkuk's Song - Cornerstone Baptist Church

 

 

 

Building a tabernacle of meeting: He is Sovereign over us

Building a tabernacle of meeting:  He is Sovereign over us

When meeting God in the tent of meeting I can imagine that there would be an overwhelming sense of God’s Holiness and Sovereignty.  In a time such as this - in our mourning, in our confusion, in our fear, in our need.  In the midst of our current earthly upheaval, and a world screaming its noise at us, it is often difficult to stay focused and keep our minds centered on Him.  But He is still in control, have not forgotten us, is still Holy and still Sovereign over us. 

Paul describes this so beautifully for us in his letter to the Colossians: 

Colossians 1:15-20 HCSB

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
¹⁶ For everything was created by Him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
¹⁷ He is before all things,
and by Him all things hold together.
¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.
¹⁹ For God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him,
²⁰ and through Him to reconcile
everything to Himself
by making peace
through the blood of His cross—
whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Lets worship this Him as the one who is Sovereign over us with Michael W Smith:  

 Sovereign over us