The Tabernacle PT2

God called Bezalel and Oholiab to build the tabernacle and in calling them, He gave them all the supernatural abilities that they needed to do this task-through the Holy Spirit (Exodus 32:1-3).

The Parts of the Tabernacle

Notice the order in which God gave the instructions for the construction of the tabernacle.

While human wisdom would have started with outlining the dimensions of the tabernacle first, before going into the smaller details, God began first of all by giving Moses the details of the ark of the covenant.

The ark was a small piece of furniture to be placed in the smallest room of the tabernacle-the most holy place (Exodus 25:10). But that room was where the glory of God was going to be present. And so that came first. In other words God started with Himself. It's just like we saw in Genesis: "In the beginning God".

God's ways are not man's ways. In the Church this is where we must begin: With God. Not with activity but with God in the Most Holy Place. We must begin with the things that are "most holy" not only in the Christian life, but in our Parishes.

Adam spent his very first day in fellowship with God and only then did h go to work in the garden. So must it be with us too. God first and then His work-whether the spreading of the gospel, teaching the faith, or social work or what ever. God first and then doctrinal matters. It is because we don't follow this order that there is so much strife and disunity among us.

When the Lord taught His disciples to pray, He did not teach them to begin by asking the Father to forgive their sins, even though that was so vital for fellowship with the father. He taught them to first pray that God's Name would hallowed, that His kingdo would come and the His will would be done. This is what is implied in God starting with the ark. God will always back anyone who gives Him first place in his life, his home and his parish.

The tabernacle is a picture of man. The tabernacle had three parts-most holy place, holy place and outer court. This corresponds exactly to the three parts of man's being-spirit soul and body (Thessalonians 5:23).

In the tabernacle, God dwelt in the most holy place showing that He seeks to dwell in our spirit-the deepest part of our being. He does not dwell in our soul (mind and emotions). Understanding this clearly can save us from a lot of deception. For example, we realize that an emotional meeting may not necessarily be a spiritual meeting, for God may not have been there at all, because God does not dwell in our emotions. Likewise a meeting where we studied God's Word intellectually may not have a spiritual meeting either, because God does not dwell in our minds. The soul is as different from the spirit as the ear is from the eye. Just as a man can have good hearing and bad eyesight, a man can have a brilliant intellect and yet be dead in his spirit. Likewise, a man can be very emotional in praising God and still be totally impure in his heart. The soul and spirit are totally different and God does not dwell in our soul. Knowing this truth can also save us from a lot of psychological, emotional, and logical deception being practiced by many who are teachers of the Word in their teaching  today.