Measuring God...

There's an old carpenter's adage that says, "Measure twice cut once, measure once cut twice." The point of the saying is that is easier and better to measure twice and just cut one time than to get the measurement wrong and end up having to cut two pieces of wood. In Exodus 26 & 27, God gives Moses the very specific instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle. In painstaking detail, God outlines all of it. Here's what I learned from those instructions.

Highlight:

Entire Passage

Explain:

These chapters underscore the specific details about the Tabernacle’s construction. Every minute measurement, every specific material, every loop, every fabric, every dimension is outlaid in exquisite and exhausting detail.

God tells them all of its measurements, all of it materials, and all of its construction. He tells them what to use, how to build it, and how to carry it. There’s just one question…WHY? As I’m reading this I’m asking myself, “why is God so incredibly detailed in every part of this?” As Matthew Henry points out, God isn’t this specific in the creation of the world. He writes, "He that gave us no account of the lines and circles of the globe, the diameter of the earth, or the height and magnitude of the stars, has told us particularly the measure of every board and curtain of the tabernacle; for God’s church and instituted religion are more precious to him and more considerable than all the rest of the world.”

I think the answer rests in it’s purpose and its context. First, it’s purpose. The purpose of the Tabernacle was to be the physical representation of the dwelling of God with His people. God, this transcendent, magnificent, and mysterious God was now coming in a.very real sense to be WITH His people. These were His covenant people that He had called out of Egypt by His own plans first spoken of in Genesis 15. These were His people and He would be their God.

This would be the focal point of their worship of this God. God would have to tell them what to wear in worshipping Him, where to stand, what to do, what to use, how to worship, what to say, and how to build the place where that worship was instructed. These people had no concept of who God is or how worship Him correctly. God would have to give them every detail.

Which leads us to the second idea, its context. Everything up until this point had been about revealing who God is. Showing them, not telling them. Remember He tells Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” meaning I’m not going to tell you, I’m going to show you. And show them He has, the plagues, the deliverance, the Red Sea, the manna, the water, Sinai, the commandments, all revelations who He is. He wanted them to know Him to experience Him for themselves. He wasn’t just going to tell them, He wanted them to experience Him for themselves. The Tabernacle is the latest in the line of this revelation. Every part of the Tabernacle is a picture of Christ. It is also a model of how the Lord is worshipped in heaven. (Hebrews 9 gives us the full explanation of these things). God speaks to these people in a language that the Jewish people understand, symbolism and pictures. Westerners think in words, Jews think in pictures. All of this is a picture so every detail is important.

Apply:

1. If we are going to worship God, He’s going to have to tell us how to do it. We can’t worship God however we want anymore than they could. If we are going to worship God in a manner that is going to please God, we have to do it the way He wants us to do it. We have no ability to understand God apart from His revelation to us. This revelation is in Jesus Christ, and He said those that worship God must do it in spirit and in truth. Meaning there must be an honesty and a sincerity to our worship as well as speaking rightly about Jesus. The words we say in preaching, the words we sing in singing must adequately and correctly testify of Jesus and the things in His word.

2. God is a God who reveals Himself. We would have no concept of who God is if He does not reveal Himself. But God longs for our fellowship, for us to know who He is as He did with the Israelites, He longs to be WITH His people. We have a God we can know! We learn of Him through His word and through prayer. If we do not spend time in His word, how will we ever come to know HIm. He has to reveal Himself to us for us to know Him and He does that through His word. Time spent in God’s word is how we come to know Him. If we have a God who is wiling to go to such lengths to know us, how can we not spend the time in His word to know Him?

3. Later, we are called God's house or His tabernacle. God's presence resided in the Tabernacle for centuries and now He chooses to live within us. We are now God's house! John 1 says that "the Word became flesh and (tabernacled) among us." God had, very definitely, come to His people. Jesus, God in the flesh, came and dwelled among men. Now spiritually, we are the body of Christ, the tabernacle of His dwelling. Just as He knew the dimensions and how it all constructed perfectly in the old tabernacle, so He knows with us as well, how we best fit together to be His body, the presence of His dwelling. The church is to be this body and God knows how it fits together. We must rely on HIs instructions now as Moses did then in constructing the dwelling of the Lord.

Respond:

Jesus thank You for revealing Yourself to us. We could never really know You otherwise. You are our God and we are Your people, what a privilege. Help us to press into knowing You deeper through Your word.