Scripture Daily

Context No. 2188 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 29:38-46: in context

38“Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. 39The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening; 40and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning and according to its drink offering, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 42It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you. 43There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory. 44I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office. 45I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46They shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

After all the detailed instructions for the altar and the continual daily offerings, two lambs offered morning and evening, God states the purpose of it all. There, he says, at the door of the tent of meeting, I will meet with you and speak to you; there I will meet with the children of Israel. And he gives the deepest aim: I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. The whole system existed for this: that God might dwell among his people.

The purpose behind the tabernacle and its offerings is stated plainly, and it is a wonder: God's aim was to dwell among his people. All the elaborate provisions, the altar, the daily sacrifices, the priesthood, existed to make possible this one thing, that the holy God might dwell in the midst of his people and be their God. He even says that this was why he brought them out of Egypt: that I might dwell among them. God's deepest desire was not merely to rule his people from a distance or to receive their worship from afar, but to dwell among them, to be present with them, to be their God in the closest sense. This reveals the heart of God toward his people, then and now. God desires to dwell with us. This is not a reluctant nearness but his deep aim, the purpose behind his dealings with his people: to be present with them, to dwell in their midst, to be their God who is near. And this desire, expressed in the tabernacle, reaches its fulfillment in Christ and the Spirit. The Word became flesh, John says, and dwelt among us; God came to dwell with his people in Christ. And now, by his Spirit, God dwells not only among his people but within them, making them his temple. God's ancient aim, to dwell among his people, is fulfilled in Christ who dwelt among us and in the Spirit who dwells in us. This is deeply comforting. The God we deal with is not a distant deity content to remain far off, but a God whose deep desire is to dwell with us, to be present, to be near. The whole purpose of the tabernacle was this nearness; and God has drawn nearer still, dwelling among us in Christ and within us by his Spirit. Behold, the final vision says, God's dwelling is with man, and he will dwell with them. This calls us to receive and rejoice in the God who desires to dwell with us. The tabernacle existed so that God might dwell among his people; and that same desire brought Christ to dwell among us and the Spirit to dwell within us. God's aim, from the beginning, has been to be with us; and we are invited to know and rejoice in the God whose deepest desire is to dwell with his people, near to us, present with us, our God who is with us always.

Do I think of God as a distant deity content to remain far off, or can the purpose of the tabernacle, that God might dwell among his people and be their God, fulfilled in Christ who dwelt among us and the Spirit who dwells within us, assure me that God's deepest desire is to dwell with his people, near and present, so that I receive and rejoice in the God whose aim from the beginning has been to be with us, our God who is with us always?

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