One Purpose

DEVOTION

EXODUS

ONE PURPOSE

Ex 26

26:1 "Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman. 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 hides of sea cows.  

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 worked into it by a skilled craftsman. 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 Testimony 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 Testimony 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.

NIV

Although this is the complete chapter, it has to be dealt with intact. This is the instructions for the construction of the tabernacle. Reading this, it would be necessary to picture how all this fit and there are more than enough people who have done just that, offering a variety of images of the tabernacle and even model kits to build one of our own. The idea of the frames being fifteen feet long and two and a half feet wide should give us a picture of nearly a solid wall of gold covered wood. Twenty of these frames would then be fifty feet long, the length of the tabernacle. We could go through the entire instructions like this and make one that resembles the original. But the lesson is not in the duplication of this tabernacle, but in the specific way in which God wanted it to be constructed. Why didn’t he just tell Moses to make a big tent about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide and make it about fifteen feet high? If he was so specific about the exact way it was to look, why then do we today seem to have to make every church uniquely different from all others? Why did the basilicas of old have to be so big with all the stained glass windows? Why does St Peters in Rome have to have so much ornateness, while some protestant buildings have to be so plain, void of any resemblance of a church at all? Is this all about man rather than about God? Do we say that the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple were built under the law and therefore not being under the law once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our buildings can be our design rather than Gods? Certainly the whole idea of the tabernacle was not for the people to come into it and hear a sermon or conduct Sunday school classes, or have concerts and guest singers, or Christian comedians. The idea of the tabernacle was for a place to signify the presence of God among the people. Do our churches of today signify the presence of God among the people? Yet on a more personal note, we are designated as the temple of God. When we think of how we were designed, we have to consider the fact that we were formed by the very hands of God. He designed and formed us from the dirt of the earth which he spoke into existence. The very material he used to form us was also from his mouth, first his word to bring it into existence then his spit to make it mud so that he could fashion our form, then he breathed his very breathe into us to make us a living being, a living temple suitable for him to inhabit. The idea of this tabernacle he instructed Moses to build shows us detail of God in our design and construction. The people needed to revere God, and this tabernacle was to show them how special a place was needed for God to dwell among them. They had to have this place, it was the center of their lives. All offerings were to be brought to the tabernacle. This place was to be so revered, so respected because it was the place of God. Certainly many of us have lost that sense in our buildings we call church. But have we also lost that respect and reverence for our own bodies as the temple of God? Do we live for our own pleasures rather than for God’s? God designed and had Moses construct the tabernacle for one purpose, to be the place God would dwell among his people. We see how many parts of it demonstrate Jesus. Maybe our churches should have but that one purpose, but again on a more personal note, God has designed and constructed us for one purpose as well. We are to be his temple, the place he dwells in among the people. We are to demonstrate Jesus as well. We have but one purpose.