At the end of Exodus 24, God calls Moses to come up on the mountain and meet with him. The glory of the Lord then engulfs the mountain. To the people below, it looks like a blazing fire. Moses walks up the mountain, into the cloud covering it and stays 40 days and 40 nights.
The Bible does not say exactly what goes on during Moses’ stay on the mountain. Except, we know God speaks and Moses listens. The topic must have been important. After all, it took 40 days for God to convey the message to Moses.
What does God talk about for all this time? For 40 days and 40 nights, God gives Moses very specific instructions about how to build the tabernacle, a portable worship space. Basically, God spends 40 days talking with Moses about how the Israelites are to worship him. God gives precise directions about everything from what materials should be used to build the temple, to how the priests are to be consecrated.
This lesson is about the design of the tabernacle and Israel’s worship practices. Through this lesson, adults are encouraged to participate regularly in congregational worship today.
In Exodus 25-31, God speaks with Moses and reveals his will. God wants to live among the Israelites, but for God to do so the people have to prepare a holy place for him to reside. The Israelites are to build a tabernacle. The Hebrew word for tabernacle is miskan it comes from the verb sakan, which means “to dwell or to sojourn.” God will dwell in their midst and be at home with them.
However, within this passage there is a measure of contingency. God only will dwell among the people if they are willing to prepare a proper house for him to inhabit. It is not that God needs a house. No, instead, it is that God desires his people work to make a home for him.
God’s gracious offer to live among the people is to be initiated through an offering of materials, which will be used to build and furnish the tabernacle. God says to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give” (Exodus 25:3).
The gentleness with which God speaks is surprising. There is no hint of coercion behind these words. The people are not bullied or really even commanded to give. Instead, they are invited to respond. The beauty behind this invitation is that their response will help to usher in the presence of God. If they give offerings for the tabernacle, and help to build it, God will come and live among them.
For ex-slaves, the items God requested for the tabernacle—gold, silver, rich fabrics, and dyed ram skin—would be a costly offering. After all, what assets did they have? They were ex-slaves with few possessions, no land and no permanent residence. Any material possessions they had most likely came from plundering their Egyptian neighbors when they left Egypt.
Because of their poverty, I imagine it was difficult for them to let go of the few material possessions they had. This is why God invited the people to give. God wanted them to respond out of love and devotion. The people had to think it over and make up their own minds about what they would give. The gifts Israel brought would be part of their worship experience, an offering made in grateful response to the God who freed them from slavery and delivered them from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea.
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Today, Christian worship services take on a variety of forms and include everything from burning candles for ambiance, to lighting incense to engage the sense of smell, to performing dramas for those who like to see the Bible come to life, to video testimonies, Christian rap music or a violinist playing a solo. Christians seem to believe God can be worshipped in any way, and this may very well be true.
However, one key lesson that we can learn from this passage of Scripture is that God takes worship seriously. After all, God spent 40 days talking with Moses about worship and took great care to instruct the people about how to worship him.
If it is this important to God, then believers today must make cooperate worship a priority. As author Philip Yancey said, “Church exists primarily not to provide entertainment or to encourage vulnerability or to build self-esteem or to facilitate friendships but to worship God; if it fails in that it fails.”
Worship is the primary response of believers to God. And this passage invites us to image a world where God is fully and gloriously present with his followers in worship, if only they will create a space for God to dwell. God desires to tabernacle with his followers even today. So, we are left with the question: What will we do to create a space for God to dwell, both in our heart and in our churches?
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.