Holy Habitation

In Exodus 26, God continues His instruction to the children of Israel by laying out the blueprint for his dwelling place. He leaves nothing up for interpretation for the tabernacle that he required his people to build. 

He wasn’t looking for them to build a shrine to worship, but rather a replica of His heavenly home that would point his people to His holy character. The tabernacle and the contents within it,  would serve as a sacred place where the children of God would worship and come to better know their King. 

Hebrews 9:9-13 tells us that the copies were not to be a replacement, but to point us to the greater and better tent whose builder is God. The consecration of these items by the sprinkling of blood, set them apart for a holy purpose, with specific instructions on how they should be handled. 

Numbers 4 details the instructions for transporting the tent of meeting and its contents, and the consequences for not following those instructions.  

15 And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die…

Because they were consecrated and set apart for God’s use, these items, man made from materials varying in earthly value, now held infinite heavenly value, with the power to end someone’s life if looked at or touched. 

There could be many things that God was looking to communicate about Himself through these replicas, but one thing we can see for sure was that he wanted his children to know that he was holy. He was God almighty, and there were no other gods in heaven or on earth. 

Being only a few months removed from Egyptian captivity, the Israelite people would still have vivid memories of living under a king. Pharaoh was Egyptian royalty who likened himself to a god and commanded worship, and the people of Israel would have reverenced him out of fear for their lives. 

But Pharaoh was harsh. He was sinful. He was self-serving and unloving. The best-interest of his subjects was far from his mind. They were commanded to worship Him, but he wasn’t worth their worship. God was showing his people that he was different. He was worthy of worship. 

His holiness gave him righteous authority over their lives, but it also gave him a perfect ability to love them, and care for them fully. 

He is still looking to be known by His people today. He longs to show us that he is wholly other than and completely different from anything else in the world that we look to for security, affection and worth. 

An understanding of God’s holiness should change the way that we think, act and behave in His presence. It should give us reverence, knowing that he is an all-powerful being, who holds our lives, and the world in his hands. It should also give us immense peace, knowing that this all-powerful being is all-together lovely and good to us, and desires to know, and be known by his creation. 

Questions to Consider: 

How does the knowledge of God’s holiness impact your daily life?