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Planters Perspective
By Rick Lancaster
From Planter’s Perspective Daily Bible Version
(From the Feb 7th Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 26:1-27:21, Matthew 25:1-30, Psalm 31:1-8, Proverbs 8:1-11)
“Set up this Tabernacle according to the design you were shown on the mountain.” Exodus 26:30
For several chapters here in the book of Exodus God has been describing to Moses how He would like the Israelites to build the Tabernacle. In some aspects there is great detail given but in some cases the instructions are relatively vague about just what it is to look like. It seems to me that while God had a specific design in mind, He left some of the details to the people that would use the creative abilities that He had given them. That is an important lesson for any leader; give your people the plan but let them use their God-given talents to work out some of the details.
In our verse for the day God tells Moses to set up the Tabernacle just as he had seen it while he was on the mountain. Moses spent forty days (without food or drink) with the LORD on Mount Sinai. He did this not once but twice. During that time in intimate fellowship with God, the Lord taught Moses the Law of God and showed Moses many things. One of those things was the Tabernacle. Elsewhere in Scripture we are told that the Tabernacle on the earth was to be like the one in Heaven. God allowed Moses to see into heaven to see the Tabernacle.
Moses was given this incredible privilege for a reason. After seeing the heavenly Tabernacle, Moses would be better able to build the earthly Tabernacle. As I read through God’s description I often wish that I could see what is being described. I marvel at people that can hear a description like this in Exodus and then go make it. I need to see what I am building before I can build it. In leadership we refer to this as vision.
One of the things that sets a true leader apart from others is an ethereal thing called vision. Vision is a leader’s ability to see the task that they are working on already completed. They can see in their minds that the task can be completed and they can see what it will look like when it is done. If you are following a true leader that can create a real challenge for you because he can see it but you might not be able to. We might be working on one small piece of the project and have no idea what the whole thing looks like.
For the Tabernacle to be complete all the pieces had to be completed. All of the pieces were important. As we serve, especially in a large organization, we may not understand the vision. We might understand what the whole thing is going to look like when it is completed. That’s Okay, you don’t need to understand. You just be faithful to complete your small piece and then trust God to use it to build for Himself a grand and beautiful Tabernacle.
Jesus, teach us to work diligently on our small piece of Your Tabernacle.
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I don’t think God cared about what the tabernacle looked like or how it was constructed other than it be done in a manner that would impress upon the children of Israel the sanctity of His word. In both the Old and New Testaments God tells us He doesn’t care for ritual, but that we love Him and love one another.
Why would He give us the 10 Commandments in very basic, general terms while go into excruciating detail on the construction of the tabernacle?
I think it’s just as possible that the details of the tabernacle’s construction were the product of Moses. Many creators can tell you they often “see” their project in complete detail before they begin, often appearing to them in a single brilliant flash of inspiration. I think God commanded Moses to construct a place where He would be worshipped with awe, love, and respect; He couldn’t have cared less about the particulars as long as the attitude behind it was correct.
While we know that God said in Hosea 6:6: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings,” and true circumcision is a “circumcision of the heart” (Romans 2:29), it would seem that God cared very much about the detail of the tabernacle, as there were, in fact, a copy of the REAL tabernacle where God Himself dwells in the Holy of Holies, and where Jesus would offer His own blood on the real altar:
“They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:5)