“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Yeshua (Jesus), by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.” (Hebrews 10:19–22)
This week, I was learning the art of turkey roasting from one of our expert turkey roasting members! And I discovered that one of the important tips is to “cover” or “tent” the turkey underneath the lid, so as to keep it extra moist. That way, the moisture will stay inside and infuse the bird with extra good flavor, ie, it won’t dry out!
The same could be said for our prayer life! If you don’t dwell, your faith can’t gel! We all need dwelling time with Jesus, private prayer time alone with God in our own special place and time each and every day.
We all need a “tabernacle.” And we need to be a “tabernacle” for Jesus.
The word tabernacle is a fascinating one. It literally means “tent” but the Hebrew word mishkan also means residence or dwelling place. The Hebrew tabernacle was essentially a portable dwelling place, a traveling “temple.” Wherever you were, you kept God along with you, or at least you felt that you did. In the early, nomadic days of our ancestors, you didn’t “go” to the synagogue or Temple, it came with you! It traveled with you as a tent that would be erected everywhere you pitched your camp.*
[Show a photo of the tabernacle tent.]
The tabernacle tent contained a table for the showbread, an altar, and most of all, it contained the inner holy of holies area, where the ark of the covenant was placed. And on top of the ark of the covenant lay the “mercy seat” –the cover of the ark, complete with golden cherubim.
Unlike the sukkah, the temporary tabernacle built for the purposes of celebrating Sukkot, the holy tabernacle had to be kept intact always as a sign that God dwelt among the people in every time and place. God was present in the wilderness, on the mountaintops, in every byway and highway, even in the dark valleys. Where God’s people went, God went too as their king, prophet, and priest.
In this sense, God was given a throne among the people, a special dwelling place, a place set apart for sacrifice and prayer, and from that space, God would communicate grace to God’s people. This was the role of the “mercy seat” –the throne of God flanked by the heavenly host and infused with the power of the divine Holy Spirit (shekinah).
God was present to receive the sins of the people and to bestow forgiveness and grace upon them year after year at the celebration of Yom Kippur. Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest (Cohen HaGadol) would enter into the holy of holies and sprinkle the blood of a bull on the mercy seat (the lid of the ark) for the atonement of sins. And each year, the people would rejoice in God’s loving mercy. By blood on the mercy seat, known also as the “mercy throne of God,” God would bestow goodness and mercy on all, undeserving as we are.
Today, as Christians, that “tabernacle” is our own body. And the mercy seat is the holy presence of Christ, whose blood has been shed for us and whose body broken for us. By his own sacrifice, he has atoned for the sins of all humanity and now dwells among us and within us as the Holy Spirit, our guide and our ever-present source of grace and love. By him our sins are covered and our guilt removed. We are nurtured in his love and grace and kept supple by his nourishing hand.
We are soon preparing to enter into the season of advent, a time when the prophet John announced the coming of Messiah, the Emmanuel, God dwelling among us. God tabernacling with us.
Jesus, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, God incarnate, came to dwell among God’s people, bringing the throne of God to earth in a sacrificial way. In his death, his blood was shed upon the mercy seat, the holy throne of God, and our iniquities were covered in grace.
And in his resurrection, he made his home among us still in the form of the Holy Spirit. The tabernacle of Christ became God’s holy church –not as a tent, not as a building, but as a body of Christ, resurrected and made holy, redeemed and made worthy.
The old order passed away, and a new order commenced, in which the tent of meeting became the traveling body. Wherever God’s people may be, two or more of them, there Jesus will dwell among and within them. Our own traveling temple.
For as we see in Jesus’ transfiguration experience, we were never meant to put God in a box. But God will travel with us as a pregnant potential, a dwelling of the heart, that infuses us with courage, power, love, and grace wherever we minister to those in need of Jesus’s healing and resurrecting touch. We are travelers, tented by his love and Holy Spirit mercy, covered by his grace and infused with his salvific power.
In Sunday School, we all learned a song, “We are the Church.” And the lyrics go like this: “the church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.”
God calls us out of our buildings and our boxes, our secluded places, and our comfortable residences, and calls us out on the road to be “roadies” for God, travelers of the “Way,” and cheerleaders for His mercy. We are His holy tabernacle. We are His traveling mercy.
At this time of Thanksgiving before we enter into the Advent Season, we therefore take time for special prayers –prayers of thanks and celebration, prayers of joy and dedication. For we are God’s holy people. The Lord has made His home among and within us. May we be worthy of His tent!
Being called by God today as the church is not a simple call, not just a call to do more or give more within this place we call the Church. It is a challenge of faith, a calling out of our identity. It is a nomadic call. It is a “come dwell with me” call. And God dwells in the world, wherever God’s people may reside.
Like our first ancestors giving thanks in a wilderness land, we are called from our wilderness places, our dark and frightening places, our comfortable and content places, our known and familiar places, and onto God’s heavenly road of glory to travel with Him as His traveling tent.
God has sprinkled his holy mercies upon you. God has bestowed upon you abundant mercy, abundant joy, and abundant blessings. May you this day go out to bestow those same mercies and blessings upon others.
This week, in this holy week of Thanksgiving, leading up to the advent of our Lord, take extra time to spend alone with God. It may be in your garden. It may be on the road or in your car. It may be at your job, or at your school, or just in your room. But take time to pray and feel the ever-present mercy and power of God. For He is with you always.
He is your alpha. He is your omega. And he is everything in between.
May your days be blessed, and your ministry and mission be His tabernacle of love. For wherever you go, and wherever you pray, Jesus goes with you.
*Many synagogues and some churches are designed in “tent” style after the tent of meeting or tabernacle.
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Jesus’ Transfiguration (Luke 9:18-36)
Minor Text
Let There Be Light (Genesis 1)
Moses and the Burning Bush on God’s Mountain (Exodus 2)
Witnesses to Moses on Sinai and the First Covenant (Exodus 24)
Moses in the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33)
God Promises a Prophet Like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-22)
Elijah Baptizes (Immerses) the Altar with Water and God’s Fire Burns it Up (1 Kings 18)
Elijah Meets God at Horeb (1 Kings 19)
Elijah’s Disappearance (2 Kings 2)
Psalm 27: Light of God Dwells
Psalm 43: Light of Dwelling
Psalm 68: Presence of God in Wilderness and Mountain
Psalm 112: Light of the Righteous
Psalm 19: Glory of God’s Precepts
The Coming of Elijah (Malachi 4)
Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 16:13-17:13; Mark 8:27-9:13)
The Prophecy About John ((Luke 1:15-17)
Jesus as God’s Light (John 1:1-18)
John’s Revelation: Those Surrounding the Throne are Dressed in Brilliant White and the Lamb Spreads His Tent and Offers Springs of Living Water (7)
John’s Revelation: The Home of God is Among Mortals in the Restoration (21)