Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeExemplo

True and lasting hope is found in these words: “I will dwell in the midst of my people.”

There are a myriad of websites and media series dedicated to home decorating. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all very particular about how we want our home to look. Some of us take the look of our houses seriously and invest time and money to get them to look like our dreams. Others are more casual about our surroundings. Some of us place a high value on neat and clean; others find a bit of a mess more comfortable. But all of us somehow, someway express our personalities and our values by the way we design and keep our surroundings. That’s why, when you are in someone else’s home, it doesn’t quite feel like home to you.

In Exodus 25 and the chapters following, we find directions for constructing and decorating a most important house: the house of the Lord. Read these amazing words carefully: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it” (Ex. 25:8–9). You should be filled with wonder as you read these words. How could it be that the great Creator, the Sovereign King, the Holy One of Israel would ever desire to dwell among these sinful, complaining, and often rebellious people? Here again, we are confronted with a major theme in the biblical story. God pours out his love on his people not because of what is in them, but because of what is in him. Nothing argues more strongly for the amazing and undeserved nature of God’s grace than God’s commanding his people to make a tabernacle so that he could dwell with his people. The hope of Israel was to be found in one place and one place alone: the Lord of glory and grace who lived among them.

But there is more. I don’t know if you noticed it or not, but God not only said he would dwell among his people, but he also communicated that he was quite particular about how his house would be built, furnished, and decorated. He wanted his house to communicate who he was and what he valued. God wanted his tabernacle to communicate two things: his unapproachable holiness and the mercy of his forgiveness. This means the tabernacle is itself a prophecy.

There would be another place where God’s unapproachable holiness and his forgiving mercy would meet: the cross of Jesus Christ. Here in God’s mercy plan, the perfectly holy Lamb would die, so that we would become the children of God and so that he would come and dwell with us. A holy God, dwelling among his not-yet perfectly holy children, is our hope today too. What amazing mercy that by grace we have become the house of the Lord.

For further study and encouragement: Jeremiah 31:31–39