If you watch old movies, (the really old ones) that depict the beginning of populating the country west of the Thirteen original colonies, you have seen episodes of traveling preachers who come to town and set up a huge tent of poles and canvas.  The tent had no floor and no sides.  It merely covered a place of ground secured from a local farmer or rancher.  Inside the tent was usually a wood platform for the preacher to speak above the crowd who would gather.  The platform also served as an altar for these preachers who were fiery in delivery with a passion for sinners to be saved and the infirmed to be healed.  The outside world believed until proven otherwise.  It depended on the character of the preacher when he left the platform and walked among the people for a few days before leaving for the next town.  His life proved who he followed as Lord.

Back “in the old days,” a preacher with his traveling church, was the only preaching and teaching most little towns and communities had.  If there was a church in town, the building was also used as the school and town hall.  Most attenders were hungry for listening to God’s Word spoken.  To others it was the “circus” that had come to town.  Attending was better than herding livestock for a time. 

My dad used to tell me of tent meetings that would come to his community.  As a young, curious boy, living on a farm, he and his brother used to go near the tent, peek inside and watch the boisterous worship and loud preachers with a few people in congregation filled with the spirit, who might even get up and run around yelling in a “spiritual language” no one else could understand.  Some, however were seriously saved by God’s grace in Jesus Name through repentance of their sins.  Lives were changed. 

But some were snookered to giving as much of their limited funds as possible to the traveling false preachers of ill repute. 

We praise God for those who were saved by grace.  We praise God for the integrity of Billy Graham, who began with a tent ministry progressed to filling whole colosseums in major cities!  God called this young man to show the Light of Jesus to the world, no matter what it took!  Billy answered and obeyed. God blessed.  Billy Graham was one who you could trust to tell the Truth!  The Graham team would also train pastors and teachers in each city and community to receive the lost no found and “make disciples, baptizing them in Jesus Name”!

Moses now has been given instructions from God who designed a portable sanctuary that was built in carry with them through their wilderness journey.  Tabernacle (mishkan), was first mentioned in the Torah, (Genesis to Deuteronomy) in Exodus 25.  Mishkan comes from the Hebrew root meaning “to dwell;” the tabernacle was considered to be the earthly dwelling place of God. In Exodus 25:8-9, God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to build a mikdash (sanctuary) where God may dwell, specifying exactly how the tabernacle should be designed.  More proof that God delights in all the details of our lives! 

God designed the first Tent Tabernacle!  Imagine God designing our homes, churches or businesses with such details!  God’s plan for His Tabernacle was filled with significance and meaning.  God’s Tent of Meeting or Tent of Congregation as it is also called; was also built for travel but beautifully sustainable for God to meet with His People who He loved.  Notice all the specific tasks to be done by skilled workers who were specifically gifted by God to accomplish.  God, who created the world in six days could have made this for His people; but He chose to accomplish this with His people; “humans made in His own image”!  Camp on that thought…

Exodus 26

The Tabernacle

26 “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. ² All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. ³ Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. ⁴ Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set. ⁵ Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. ⁶ Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit.

⁷ “Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. ⁸ All eleven curtains are to be the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. ⁹ Join five of the curtains together into one set and the other six into another set. Fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent. ¹⁰ Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. ¹¹ Then make fifty bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the tent together as a unit. ¹² As for the additional length of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle. ¹³ The tent curtains will be a cubit longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it. ¹⁴ Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.

¹⁵ “Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. ¹⁶ Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, ¹⁷ with two projections set parallel to each other. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. ¹⁸ Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle ¹⁹ and make forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. ²⁰ For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, make twenty frames ²¹ and forty silver bases—two under each frame. ²² Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, ²³ and make two frames for the corners at the far end. ²⁴ At these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both shall be like that. ²⁵ So there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

²⁶ “Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, ²⁷ five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. ²⁸ The center crossbar is to extend from end to end at the middle of the frames. ²⁹ Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold.

³⁰ “Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.

³¹ “Make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. ³² Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. ³³ Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. ³⁴ Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place. ³⁵ Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.

³⁶ “For the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. ³⁷ Make gold hooks for this curtain and five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold. And cast five bronze bases for them.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God does not require our “tent of meetings” or churches to look like this today.  And we are glad!  What God is doing for His people then was to remind the people that all they took from the Egyptians, at His command, was now to be used for a place of indwelling for His people to enjoy God’s Presence while giving God the glory for redeeming them!  This traveling tent of meeting will also be used as a place to confess sins with the promise of atonement for those sins.  A perfect, without blemish animal is chosen to be that sacrifice. It will be killed on an altar outside the tent.  Then the shed blood of the lamb will be used to “cover” the repented sins of the people.  It was the work of the chosen priest to ceremonial atonement of sins.  Throughout the Bible, God provides ways for his people to have fellowship with him.  The diligence and care with which the Israelites built the tent of meeting demonstrated their reverence for God.

Significance of the Details–

• Detailed instructions for making the ark, the table, and the lampstand demonstrated his transcendence above the common everyday features of the world. 
• The ark’s portable nature represented God’s desire to be with the Israelites wherever they traveled.
• The ark of the covenant was a rectangular box containing the trio of the most precious Hebrew artifacts: a gold jar of unspoiled manna, Aaron’s walking stick that had budded long after it was cut, and the precious stone tablets that had felt the engraving finger of God.
• Two cherubim of gold, with outstretched wings, faced each other and looked down on the golden lid with the mercy seat on the lid. They represented the majesty of Jehovah watching over the law and the needs of the people.
• The ark symbolized God’s provision (the manna), God’s power (the staff), God’s precepts (the commandments), and, most of all, God’s presence.
• During the temple era, the high priest would be granted a once-a-year audience with the ark. After offering personal sacrifices of repentance, he would enter the Most Holy Place with, according to legend, a rope tied to his ankle lest he perish from seeing and being in the presence of God and need to be pulled out.

Max Lucado parallels the old covenant with the new covenant provided by the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, as the once and for all sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“A twenty-six-word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions. If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God’s treatment is prescribed in John 3:16.

He loves. He gave. We believe. We live.

The words are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America—an entryway into the heartland. Believe or dismiss them, embrace or reject them, any serious consideration of Christ must include them. Would a British historian dismiss the Magna Carta? Egyptologists overlook the Rosetta stone? Could you ponder the words of Christ and never immerse yourself in John 3:16?

The verse is an alphabet of grace, a table of contents to the Christian hope, each word a safe-deposit box of jewels. Read it again, slowly, and aloud, and note the word that snatches your attention. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God so loved the world . . .  We’d expect an anger-fueled God. One who punishes the world, recycles the world, forsakes the world . . . but loves the world?

The world? This world? Heartbreakers, hope-snatchers, and dream-dousers prowl this orb. Dictators rage. Abusers inflict. Reverends think they deserve the title. But God loves. And he loves the world so much he gave his . . . Declarations? Rules? Dicta? Edicts?

No. The heart-stilling, mind-bending, deal-making-or-breaking claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave his Son . . . his only Son. No abstract ideas but a flesh-wrapped divinity. Scripture equates Jesus with God. God, then, gave himself. Why? So that whoever believes in him shall not perish.” –Lucado, Max Lucado’s Encouraging Word Bible

Lord

From the beginning, you wanted to be with us, love us, guide us to what is better—Your very best.  And you provide for us on our journey to get where you are, and at the same time you are where we are, counting the hairs on our heads!  God, there is no one like you who cares so much and loves so greatly that you would give your One and Only Son in sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus, there is no one else who would willingly go to hell and back so that I can live forever with you.  There are not enough words to express how amazing you are; but I will not stop trying to thank you and praise with what I do have in my vocabulary—without ceasing!

In Jesus Name, for our good and your glory, Amen!