The tabernacle would eventually be replaced by the temple which was a larger solid version of the exact Mosaic plan for the tabernacle. God cannot be contained in a building of any size and yet he inhabited the tabernacle and temple in a special and specific sense; to express his availability to his people. Yet even the great temple that would eventually be built in Jerusalem would not be God’s ultimate dwelling place on earth. This was still a symbol of what would be. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21). The tongues of fire that rested upon each of the gathered disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3) declared that God was coming to dwell in the hearts of his people. You are a tabernacle of God. The pillar of fire/cloud, that is, the presence of God, dwells within your heart. To enter the tabernacle Aaron and his sons had to go through a rigorous process of washing and had to wear certain sacred robes to ensure, symbolically, that nothing unholy ever entered the Holy Place. Only what was pure could enter. So, think about this: What do you allow into the Holy Place of your heart? Have you desecrated God’s tabernacle by bringing unholy things into it? What have you allowed to pass through the entrance curtain of your eyes? What have you entertained in the inner sanctuary of your mind? Is it time to cleanse God’s temple? Let your heart become a pure sanctuary of God so you can reflect God’s glory.
Reflect on and pray about this.
Read Exodus 40:1-33
