Ex 35&36
Maybe the prior question to ask as we look at the question of how, is why are they building a tabernacle. We find the answer in Ex 25:8 “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” What a wonderful statement from our Father about His desire to be with us. This is a fundamental difference in our God from all the surrounding gods, this God who dwells in our midst. Deut 4:6-7 describes how the other nations observe this difference. Their gods are far off and therefore they make images/idols to worship. God has strictly forbidden any form of “graven” image because He is in our midst and He wants nothing to distract us from Him. We are notoriously prone to become infatuated with our created images (Idols) over His presence.
Note that He first calls it a sanctuary. The first sanctuary God created was a garden which we polluted and from which we were removed. This story will show that in time we will be removed, forcefully I might add, by Jesus in His time, from the temple, but returns at Pentecost to dwell in a new temple, His people. It is interesting that He calls this “temple/sanctuary” a city which we see descend on the earth in Revelation 21. All of these pictures and actual physical places house the presence of our God. Sorry, this could turn into a whole blog on its own so lets move on.
It as clear as we read this passage that God is the One who determines the purpose (Ex 25:8) of the tabernacle, He is the architect (Ex 34:4) in every detail of its construction, and He provides the inspiration (Ex 35:34) for those who participate in the building of this sanctuary. He provides the vision and the means for this important undertaking.
You have all heard me say that we are made, God’s design, to be drawn and not pushed. This undertaking is a beautiful picture of how God relates to us. Typically God provides a context, paints a picture and then invites us to participate.
What do I mean by providing a context? We see it clearly here. He has chosen a people for Himself, He has brought them out of slavery, He is giving them a huge opportunity to respond to His request, He has given them all the resources they have, He gives the, the skills they need, and the inspiration and creativity to contribute. All of these are His gifts to them, freely given and received, but not of their own making. Ex 35:4- 36:7.
Then God invites. He provides, gives every aspect of the context, but He does not command, force, or manipulate a particular response. He opens the door for desire to walk through. Note the many phrases we see like; “Whoever is of a generous heart” Ex 35:4, “And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him” Ex 5:21, “All who were of a willing heart” Ex 35:22, “… [those] whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord” Ex 35:29, “[those]whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord” Ex: 36:2, “They still kept bringing him freewill offerings” Ex 36:3”. And I love how in this case it ends, “So the people were restrained from bringing more.” Their desire was so great that they had to be restrained from giving more. Invitation invites response, invitation into something larger than ourselves is something that at out core we all desire. This construction of a tabernacle is God’s invitation to His people to be in relationship with Him and the clarity and compelling nature of the offer caused a response so great they had to be restrained. Wow!
God’s desire is to dwell in our midst. How cool is that? This is how God relates to us, invitation and response. Our hearts are designed such that they are moved by desire responding to invitation. The condition of our hearts, where our deepest desires lie dictate what our response will be. We push against command or manipulation, but our desire is kindled by invitation into something other than ourselves. The work is commanded not the response. The gifts for doing the work are given, inspiration (vision) is given, participation (calling) is an invitation opening the door to desire which creates relationship.
Is my heart, Father, so moved by desire that I must be restrained? LHM/CHM
**3/3/20 This is one of what I hope will be a regular entry in my blog. This is a shift from what I have done in the past which has mostly been episodic accounts of things I experience in life. I may continue to post more of the same from time to time, but the drift of the blog, at least for now, will be my observations, prayers, questions, and grappling with the Bible as I read through it over the next two years with some friends. We are together following a 2 year reading schedule and meeting monthly to compare notes. Your comments are welcome and if you are interested in what the reading schedule looks like reply in comments and I will be glad to send it to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment