Read Exodus 26-27 Psalm 46
Verses chosen for meditation
31 “And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. 32 And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. 33 And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
Reflect
Exodus 26 to 27 contains God’s very specific instructions on His plan and design for the Tabernacle. Indeed it is not easy to understand them without some visual guide or artistic and architectural background! This shows that God is indeed an outstanding artist and creator. We may be wondering why He was so specific about every little details of the design and build, and why he was so hands on? He could have just asked Moses and his craftsmen to build Him a grand and spectacular Tabernacle. Perhaps God’s very personal involvement in building the Tabernacle demonstrated His intent to dwell in it and to be among the Israelites. It is only natural that you do not let someone else design your house especially when we are talking about a divine King’s dwelling place! After all none of the Israelites would have possibly seen God’s dwelling place so no one can fathom out how majestic that would look like. We also learnt from the reading that the Ark of Covenant and the entire Tabernacle was built or designed to be mobile so God’s dwelling place can move together with the Israelites. Hence the upmost wisdom of creating this Tabernacle has to come from God himself. It was only appropriate that these instructions had to come from God in a very specific manner.
What struck me most when reading these 2 chapters were the three verses from 31 to 33, where God’s holiness was greatly emphasized. The Ark of Covenant was placed inside the Most Holy Place, separated by a veil (with cherubim embroidered on it). Not everyone can enter the Holy of Holies! Only the high priests that went through solemn process of consecration and atonement could enter. It is not a trivial matter to trifle with when we enter into God’s Holy presence.
Relate
We are so much more blessed than the Israelites that we do not have to move a huge Tabernacle with us every where we go for God Himself dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). So if our bodies are His dwelling place then how do they compare with the majestic grandeur and holiness of a Tabernacle? 1 Corinthians 6 taught us about sinning against the body and why we should flee from it. Hence we have to learn to honor God with our bodies.
And the veil that separates the Holy of Holies from us no longer exist! For it is written in Matthew 27:50,51 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom”. Our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. So we can now enter the Most Holy Place (without being struck down by our guilt and sinful nature) not by our own doing but by the sacrifice and blood of Christ once and for all! We can stand before God, in the Most Holy Place, and have direct access to our Heavenly Father through our High Priest Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God!
Pray
Heavenly Father
We do not want to take our bodies for granted for they are Your temple. We thank You for the blood of Christ that tore the veil which separates us from You. Help us Holy Spirit, to glorify You with our bodies.
In Jesus name we pray Amen
Alan Wong
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