The Dwelling Place of God

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2025-27&version=NIV

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” – Exodus 25:8

In today’s reading God provides very specific instructions regarding the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place where God would dwell among his people. The word sanctuary means a place set apart – a place made Holy by the divine presence of God. And God had very specific instructions for the construction of a place that is set apart for him.

But how do these instructions apply to my life? Why were they important enough for God to inspire man to write them and then include them in his Holy word? I believe the answer is found in asking this simple question – Where is the God’s sanctuary located today? Is it Second Baptist? First Baptist? The Crystal Cathedral? Let’s go to the Word for the answer. It says this:

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? – 1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19

That’s right, my friends – while under the Old Covenant, God’s dwelling place was in the tabernacle and later the temple, behind a curtain that separated us from being directly in the presence of God, a place only a consecrated priest could enter. But under the New Covenant, because our Great High Priest made a way – because the curtain of separation was torn by his death that atoned our sins once and for all – the place made Holy by the divine presence of God is your very body!

That is such an amazing truth! The tabernacle moves from a place we God to worship to the reason that we worship! And because our body is the sanctuary of God, the instructions God gives for building it are important. So let’s take a look at what we can learn about creating a dwelling place for God in our hearts.

First, read Exodus 25:1-9. God wanted material used to build his dwelling place to be received “from each man whose heart prompts him to give”. A little inside tip from Mary Ann Bridgewater again tell us that the Hebrew word fro prompts is nadab, which means to be willing. This root has the flavor of an uncompelled, free movement of the will for divine service or sacrifice.The gifts where to be presented with a willful heart – hearts stirred up and incited to action – hearts that where willing to sacrifice all they had that was needed to build the tabernacle. Their all was dedicated to Him.

Is your heart stirred up – willing to sacrifice and devote your all to Him. Will you yield your heart to a God who desires to make it his dwelling place?

Next, notice that in Exodus 25: 23-30, instructions are given for a table that would hold the bread of the presence. My study Bible says “The bread represented a perpetual bread offering to the Lord by which Israel declared that it consecrated to God the fruits of its labors, and by which the nation at the same time acknowledged that all such fruit been provided by God.”

As the dwelling place of God, are you will to offer yourself daily before his throne, giving him your first fruits – the best of your labor – knowing that it is the Lord that gives you the gifts that you need and moves you to “will and to act according to him good purpose”. Are you willing to give your all to him?

Exodus 25:31-40 gives detailed instructions for the lamp stand. Again, my study Bible explains that “the lamps represented the glory of the Lord reflected in the consecrated lives of the Israelites”. Is the glory of the Lord reflected through the light of your life? In Matthew 5:14-16 we are called the light of the world and given the command to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.

As a last example of how are lives are to be a sanctuary for God, let’s look at the brazen altar in Exodus 27:1. It was an elevated altar where priest offered sacrifices of atonement. Because Jesus was our perfect atoning sacrifice, we should worship daily at His altar. We offer our bodies as living sacrifices. We worship in Spirit and in truth. We lift up the name of our Lord and Savior for who He is and what He has done. We offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

When we are intentional in our time of worship, there is a power of the supernatural God – we are filled with his presence and our lives are set apart to serve Him only.

Amen and Amen!

Today's post was submitted by Carol Bartels