As I write today’s blog post, it’s a mere four days away from Christmas. I know for those of you reading this post today, it’s probably not the Christmas season. It might be sunny and warm where you are or rainy and humid. Today, imagine with me for a few minutes that we’re sharing a cup of hot cocoa together, wrapped up in cozy blankets, sitting next to the Christmas tree, and reading about the long-awaited birth of our Savior.
Heaven Came Down to the Tabernacle
I often think about what it was like for the Israelites to have waited so long for the promised Messiah. For hundreds of years, they clung to the promise that had been passed down from generation to generation. After their judgement and exile for walking away from the Lord, after their repeated unfaithfulness to their God, after so many years of silence, would God really come to dwell with them?
As I read through today’s verses, I felt a similar curiosity to what this young Israelite nation might have felt after they completed the tabernacle. I wonder if they worried they hadn’t done enough or anxiously wondered if they’d completed everything asked of them.
After hundreds of years in slavery in Egypt, after their miraculous rescue and subsequent complaining, after Moses’ time spent on Mt. Sinai while they bowed down to a golden statute they fashioned with their own hands, would God really come to dwell with them as He promised when He commissioned the building of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:8)?
Yes. With their own eyes they were able to see God physically fulfill His promise. His glory filled the tabernacle!
And now we’re left to wonder…What did the people do when the cloud descended on the tabernacle? Were there joyous songs like when the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds? Did they quietly ponder the significance of God’s faithful promise-keeping as Mary did? Was their worship and adoration like that of the wise men? We can’t be sure. What we are told is that God’s presence became a guide for them. At least for a little while, they obediently followed His leading.
Heaven Came Down in the Person of Jesus
But God’s dwelling with His people wasn’t simply for the purpose of being their guide or showing them when to head out and when to stay camped. When the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, so did His love, holiness, mercy, grace, and power. The full weight of who God was now dwelled with His people. Heaven came down to earth. What a beautiful display of God’s love for His people! And God’s glory filling the tabernacle was just a picture of the dwelling to come.
We know the rest of the Israelites’ story. Time and time again, despite God’s promise to be with them, they turn and walk away from His goodness. Until one day, we find His people once again waiting for the coming of Christ Jesus. And once again, their faithful God keeps His promise.
God’s Son would leave His home. He would trade a throne in heaven for a manger in a smelly stable taking on the name Immanuel, God with us, to display His deep love for His people.
Heaven Has Come in the Person of the Holy Spirit
Heaven came down to earth. Only this time, God knew it was time to make the move permanent. Jesus spoke of the Helper, the Spirit of God, that would come and dwell forever inside the children of God. No more need for a tabernacle or a temple. God’s people, the body of Christ, would become the dwelling place of the Lord.
And now dear sisters, if we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, if we have repented of our unfaithfulness and followed in obedience, we are filled with the presence and glory of God through His spirit. His love, holiness, mercy, grace, and power are transforming us together from the inside to be made into His perfect home (1 Corinthians 6:19).
We aren’t the tabernacle as we read about in Exodus. We aren’t built out of precious metals or special wood. We don’t have to wash ourselves in fancy bowls. We have no names carved in our walls or special apron straps. And we aren’t waiting anxiously, holding our breaths for the Lord’s presence to fill us, wondering if we have done enough.
Friends, if we have chosen to follow Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are already filled with the power of His Holy Spirit. Jesus came to earth and tabernacled with us, and now believers are the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. Each and every day we can wake up confidently knowing whose home we are and who dwells inside us.
And as for our response to this beautiful truth? Joyous songs, quiet meditation, and falling on our knees in worship because as a favorite Christmas hymn proclaims, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. ”His spirit dwells in us.
