Today’s Passage: Exodus 27-28
Tabernacle blue prints and priestly garments. For many, this chapter seems to only be set of instructions and is not really relevant to our lives today… none of us have to build a tabernacle to travel around with. But 2nd Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is useful for teaching. My wife Krista, a biology teacher, told me a little bit about acacia wood. Aside from growing very well in the desert, acacia wood was used as a building material because it did not rot easily or become infested with insects. The fibers of the wood emitted a very strong fragrance which kept insects and other small animals away. When we read about the tabernacle we are reading about God’s dwelling place. He chose the specific materials that He wanted to use for His home. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we become indwelled with Christ; He lives within us. Are we like the acacia wood, fresh and strong? Are you, figuratively, emitting the fragrance of Christ? Or have we let the small things in that eventually cause us to become rotten?
Just as God was particular in his instructions regarding the tabernacle, He is particular with what we should and should not do with our tabernacles; our bodies. But God isn’t simply giving us an instruction manual, God provides the tools. Look with me if you will at chapter 27, verse 8b, “…As it has been shown you on the mountain, so shall it be made.” I don’t know about you, but when someone gives me a lot of specific instruction, typically the first thing I respond with is, let me write this down or can you show me an example. I think this verse would typically be read over with no qualms; however, it caught my eye, simply because there is a lot of detail in these passages; yet, God does not merely give orders and expect His people to fabricate this out of their own abilities. God was the source of all their instruction.
Later on in chapter 28, you will notice the phrase, “…before the LORD.” The tabernacle was to be the place where the LORD would reside; thus, His tabernacle needed to be specifically and perfectly constructed. The things done in the tabernacle and for the LORD need to be acceptable before Him because He is a HOLY God. I, all too often, seem not to view God’s holiness in the right perspective. Verse 43 speaks of, “lest they bear guilt and die..” Death has always seemed to get people’s attention. As so God’s holiness should get His people’s attention.
Challenge this week: Have you let sin roam in your tabernacle? Has God’s holiness become insignificant to you? May we ask God that He may reveal the sin that we may have become comfortable with?
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