Day 16 God Dwells in the Tent of Meeting

Posted on: March 24, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Exodus 25:8-9; 29:41-46

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you, concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.

The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

Picking Up the Thread

Several key depictions of God’s dwelling with his people appear in these verses. Although a tabernacle is simply a dwelling, the word usually has spiritual associations meaning the place on earth where a god chooses to be known to a people. In that sense, “the sanctuary” is another way of saying “the tabernacle.” For us who worship the one true God who is everywhere all at once, the tabernacle is the place where God adapts himself to our limitations. He covenants to show up in a particular place. The people would go to the tabernacle to worship and to offer sacrifices for sins or make offerings of thanksgiving. They would go to offer their prayers to the LORD. Again, God can hear us from any place, but he accommodates himself to our need for a consistent place set apart where we can count on connecting with God. Thus, the tabernacle was a symbol of God’s dwelling with his people, a symbol of a reality they experienced.

After they left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land, the people first had two such holy places. The tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp. Inside it was the ark of the covenant containing the Ten Commandments. On top of the ark was the mercy seat, the place where the blood of atoning sacrifice could be offered. The tabernacle reminded the people of what the LORD had done in the past, assured them of a future in the promised land of Canaan, and became the focus for present relationship with the God who dwelled with them in the tabernacle in a special way.

In the early days after Egypt, the tent of meeting was separate from the tabernacle. It was erected outside the camp, and Moses could go there to speak with the LORD. The people could see Moses and God were talking when the pillar of cloud came down to the tent. But not only Moses prayed there for “everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7). Eventually, the tabernacle was set up inside the tent of meeting. Whenever the people moved ahead in the wilderness, they carried all the pieces of the tabernacle and tent of meeting, setting it all up in each new place. In this way, the dwelling of God with his people went wherever his people went. Israel’s God was never confined to one geographic location. But in every place, these accouterments of worship affirmed one central desire of the LORD: “I will dwell among them.” God passionately and persistently longs to be in the midst of his beloved.

Stitching It In

The free intimacy between Adam, Eve and the LORD in the Garden of Eden was severed. The tabernacle in the tent of meeting allowed the people to enter into relationship with the God who had redeemed them from slavery. But the very holy nature of the ark, the jar of manna, and the mercy seat, all kept veiled behind the curtains, reminded the people that God was not safe. His holiness was dangerous. Their mission to become a people of his own possession in Canaan was serious business. The LORD intended to bless and redeem the world through their distinctive worship and witness. However, many times in their history Israel would yearn for a more manageable god. They would grow weary of all the sacrifices. They would long for freedom to be more like their neighbors. Being the chosen ones placed a heavy burden on the former Hebrew slaves. The world depended on them. Their God expected much from them.

Thus, these symbols and rituals of worship played a crucial role in maintaining their distinct identity. The ark with the tablets of the law, carried for forty years through the desert, reminded the people of what God had done for them. As Moses would say, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?. . . Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders . . . by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm . . . all of which the LORD your God did for you before your eyes. To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other beside him” (Deuteronomy 4:7-8, 34-35).

The LORD God was reweaving his tapestry of humanity flourishing as his image makers and remaking the earth into a Garden temple again. He honors us by asking for our participation. We have a new pattern to present to the world, and it is glorious. But it is not natural to our inwardly focused wills. To live within God’s new pattern, we require the rhythm and ritual of worship, both personal and corporate. We need the signs that remind us of all God has done. The story of his Word rehearsed and pondered over and over. The sacraments enacted. The clear teaching that propels us to live and show a more beautiful pattern. For what news we have to share! God dwells with his people!

Praying Along the Pattern

I confess Lord Jesus Christ that sometimes

I wonder if it really matters that I tell your story.

Aren’t there many ways and many gods that work for people?

Can’t people just choose and find their own way?

Won’t it all work out in the end?

But then I remember the story of what you did.

I recall why you commanded me to rehearse it.

For when a son asks,

“What’s the meaning of these laws God gave us?

Why do they matter anymore?”

You told fathers how to reply,