Exodus 26:30-33; 29:43-46; 40:34-38: June 30—God dwells among His people

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

As we study the assigned passages before us, we should approach the study reverently. The images which come to our minds are stunning. Among the people of Israel, perhaps not quite so revolutionary. They lived among nations who handcrafted idols as images of their gods, put them in high places, such as hill tops, and treated them as though they had life-giving powers. Their leaders may have cautioned worshipers that the image stood for a deeper reality, but to the average worshiper, the idol was god embodied. God’s instructions were calculated to set Him apart from all emblems. Even deeper, the realities depicted here foreshadow God’s ultimate act through Jesus Christ, His son, to which we must devote some attention.

The Bible challenges our human understanding that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe commanded the building of a structure to assure His presence (26:30-33). What God had shown Moses while they communed on Mount Horeb has now come to the time to start construction on the tent of meeting, also known as the tabernacle. Everything about it spoke of the majesty of God as Moses guided the work. More to the point, the lid to the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, was made of pure gold decorated with a cherub at each end, facing each other. Note how casually the reference to cherubim (v. 31), whose pictures were woven into the materials used in the tabernacle construction, is given. Surely they speak of those majestic beings associated with the being of God Himself. For example, they guarded the gates of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:24). Ezekiel saw them wheeling across the skies (Ez. 1:5 with 10:15, 20). In the New Testament, they appeared as four living beings around God’s throne (Rev. 4:6-8). 

Next, the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, represented the place where God and His people could meet together(29:43-46). We sometimes unthinkingly apply the idea of sanctification to people, but the Bible applies the word more broadly. In our text, God sanctified the tabernacle by His presence. He also sanctified Aaron and his sons. Most significantly, He promised to dwell among the children of Israel and be their God (v. 45).

We find a magnificent fulfillment of that verse in John 1:14, which states, “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” The word for dwelt in the original is tabernacled, reading, “the Word tabernacled among us.” In the language of literature, God thereby wrote Himself into the story, making Himself to be in time and space through the incarnate Son. Sadly, John 1:4 tells the impact on Israel in that, “He came unto his own [creation], and his own [people] received him not.” We pray for the fulfillment of Romans 11:26 that “all Israel shall be saved.”

As we close this study, we Christians glory in the fact of God’s guidance (40:34-38). God’s glory settled on the tent of the congregation, symbolizing His presence and His guidance. When He wanted the people to change locations, the cloud by day and the fire by night led them. The fulfillment in the New Testament was signaled when “the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mk. 15:38), at the crucifixion of Jesus. According to Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived at that time, the veil, about 40 feet tall and four inches think, could not have been torn by horses trying to pull it apart.

Three days later, John described what Mary Magdalene saw when she entered the tomb. She saw two angels in white, one sitting at each end of the place “where the body of Jesus had lain” (John 20:12). Jesus was alive! What a beautiful message for us. They beheld the mercy seat, a symbol of the payment for sins. Jesus is the atonement.

Fifty days later at Pentecost, “cloven tongues like as of fire” sat upon each of those in the upper room. The Holy Spirit was anointing the new temple. God’s glory now dwells within us as He leads, directs, and empowers the new temple as affirmed in First Corinthians 6:19. The church can be called the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. By whatever name, God began a new era in history