Day #73 - Tabernacle

The Presence - A Devotional for Living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Raygar He on Unsplash

When you think of camping what do you think of?

I probably first think of a tent. What is the best camping experience that you ever had? Do you remember what your tent was like? I didn’t do a lot of tent camping growing up, but I remember we did a few times when I was pretty young. I enjoyed the idea of being in a tent. In fact, as kids we made tents out of blankets, sleeping bags and whatever we could create in our play room. There was always something special about having a tent. There is something special about having a place to dwell.

In John 1:14, the Scripture expands on Jesus as the Word of God and says that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. This word for “dwelling” is the word for tabernacle. The tabernacle has a very central place in Israel’s history because it was the place that God came to dwell in His glorious presence among his people.

God gave very specific instructions to Moses about how to have the tabernacle constructed. It was essentially a large tent that would travel with Israel through the desert. It was the place of sacrifice and where the ark of the covenant rested when they were camped. It was here in this place that God manifested his presence.

King David would later create a new tabernacle for the Lord’s presence and the ark of the covenant that revolved around singing and musical instruments for worship around the clock. He hired singers and musicians to worship the Lord all day and all night before the ark of the covenant in a big tent. This pleased the Lord and caused his blessing to increase upon Israel.

When John starts his gospel in chapter 1 and says that Jesus made his dwelling and that they had seen his glory, its a striking reality that the tabernacle of the Old Testament is not now fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the tent now for the glory of God and he is full of grace and truth.

We wouldn’t have to go to a literal tabernacle now, because the tabernacle had come to us. The glory of God was not something we have to search for any longer, the glory of God has come to us. The manifest presence of God’s glory now dwells in the person of Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus, you are full of grace and truth. I desire to behold you more and more. To behold you is to behold the glory of God. Thank you that you came to dwell with us, to tabernacle with us. Thank you for your manifest presence. Thank you that you came to us O Word of God. In your name Jesus, amen.