Moses and the Lord had quieted the people during their trek through the desert. And the Lord, through the mouth of Moses, had the people build God a tabernacle which could be carried on their long journey to the promised land. The people were gracious and generous in giving. Some gave gold or silver or bronze. Some gave purple and scarlet yarn or linen, skins dyed red, acacia wood, olive oil for light, spices for anointing with oil and for incense, and onyx stones and other gems.
All who were skilled at building were to come and be employed in the making of the tent and its covering, and to make clasps, frames, and all minute pieces which were needed to secure the tent. Curtains were made for the doorway, as was a bronze basin with its stand, tent pegs and ropes, even the woven garments to be worn for ministering in the sanctuary. The women spun, the men built, and brought their free-will offerings to the Lord as Moses had commanded them. The Lord filled the people with His Spirit, and together they fashioned the tabernacle and its accessories.
Finally, all the work on the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. The people had done all that the Lord had commanded them to do. The Creator had been highly interested in the smallest detail, and the Tabernacle had been done as He had desired. And Moses blessed the people. If God was happy, so Moses, too, was happy, and the people were happy, too.
The tabernacle was to be God's home on earth, and God filled it with His glory--the overpowering sense of His presence. It wasn't until 500 years later that Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem which replaced the tabernacle as the central place of worship. God, at times, filled the temple with his Glory and presence, but when Israel turned from God, His Glory and presence departed. In time the temple was destroyed by invading armies, and was not rebuilt until 516 B.C. When Jesus was crucified, God's glory again left the temple. However, God no longer needed a physical building after Jesus rose from the dead. God's temple now is his church, the body of believers.(Study)
But, in all the travels made in the time of Moses and God's tabernacle, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift they did not set out--until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, to the sight of all the Israelites in their journeying.
How God cares! How God cared for his desert people! And now us. How God also cares for us. We are still His people, beloved, adored, cherished enough to show us when we are wrong as well as when we have done well. Every time I think of Jesus, His Spirit open to me always, I know He is present. And I know it pleases Him that I think of Him. Thoughts of Jesus warm me, remind me that all is OK, whether the day brings good, or not so much so. The moment of my thought of Jesus makes me One with Him, like the cloud and fire did which lead the Israelites. We are no different from those who followed God's Spirit through the desert. Life, our life, can be a desert................
or a tabernacle of love.
In His care,
Jo INMN
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