Exodus 25:1-9

¹ The LORD told Moses, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, so that they take for me a donation. You should receive the donation for me from every man whose heart moves him. ³ And this is the kind of donation that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, ⁴ blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, ⁵ tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, ⁶ oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, ⁷ onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the sacred pouch. ⁸ And let them make me a sacred place, and I will live in their midst. ⁹ You should make it exactly as I am showing you according to the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture.

a sacred place

The LORD had commanded his people not to make an altar out of their silver and gold. He had commanded them not to fashion it with tools, but only to use earth or stones which had not been carved. So, why did he insist now that they make him an intricately fashioned dwelling place from their riches? Part of the answer lies in what the Mikdash[1] represented. It did not stand for what the people could do for God, but it stood for what God planned to do for them. The LORD intended to travel with them as they journey to the holy land.[2] Also, unlike the altar, which could be constructed by a single person, the mobile sacred place in the desert would be the result of the donations from all the people, as the LORD put it on their hearts to give. Some would donate the raw materials, and others would construct the tabernacle according to God’s plan. One farmer might plant, and another water, but God is responsible for the final harvest. In the same way, the tabernacle would bring glory to its designer, and would be sacred not because of its sources or its contents, but because of its inhabitant.

When our Lord Jesus came to earth to tabernacle among us for a while,[3] his appearance was also accompanied by gifts from great men. The gifts were of the same type as those the Israelites contributed for the tabernacle. But the great men who gave those gifts were not Israelites. They represented an new people the LORD was going to call to himself. A people from among all the peoples of the planet. When the LORD descends to take up his permanent residence among us, we will all be one tribe, one family. Also, when he does that, the sacred place in which he resides will be us.

LORD, come to dwell in our hearts today, as we journey toward the future which you have promised us.

[1] literally, the Holy place.

[2] Psalm 78:54; Zechariah 2:12.

[3] John 1:14.