Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tabernacle

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).

Today I’m going to start a series of devotions about the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a large tent used by Israelites to worship the Lord. It was the place where God made His presence known among them; for this reason it was also known as the Tent of Meeting.

The Tabernacle was built according to God’s design, given to Moses at Mount Sinai. There were three spaces in the structure. An outer courtyard was open to the sky. Inside the courtyard was a large enclosed space called the Holy Place. At the back of this room, screened from view by a heavy curtain, was a smaller chamber called the Most Holy Place. The courtyard was where people came to express their devotion to God. The Holy Place was reserved for priests and their work. The Most Holy Place belonged to God alone.

This floor plan was designed to teach people about our relationship with God. We are evil; sin makes us filthy through and through. God is holy; nothing impure may come before His presence. God stands in the Most Holy Place; we are outside where sin keeps us from seeing or approaching His glory.

But the Tabernacle was a Tent of Meeting; its purpose was to connect us to our Maker. And so God provided the Holy Place. The Holy Place is where the priests did their work—they acted as mediators between God and His people. The design of the Tabernacle taught every Jew that the only way to connect with God was through the work of the priesthood.

Eventually, the Tent of Meeting was replaced by a Temple of stone and wood. The same basic design remained—outer court, Holy Place, Most Holy Place. But when Jesus died on the cross, something remarkable happened—at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). When Jesus completed His suffering, He ripped away the sin separating us from God—through Jesus, we now have direct access to the Lord of heaven. Jesus is our High Priest; He is our Mediator with the Almighty. When Jesus speaks, we hear the words of God; when we pray to Jesus, God hears us. Jesus has replaced both Temple and Tabernacle; Jesus is where we now go to meet God.

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