Devotions ... Tabernacle of Praise

When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, they wandered in the desert before they entered the promised land.  

According to God’s direction on Mt. Sinai, Moses built a tent or tabernacle from which God would meet with the Israelites (Exodus 39 – 40).  It housed the ark of the covenant where sacrifices were offered to God and their sins were covered. It was sufficient for them for a time.  

By the time of the taking of Jericho, the ark of the covenant was the focus of the covenant between God and the Israelites.  

After David became King, he desired to build a permanent house or dwelling place for the Lord God  (2 Samuel 7:1 – 14).  David had spent a lifetime as a warrior so the task of building God’s house was passed to his son, Solomon, who oversaw its building.  Jerusalem was the designated site.  It was to be a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).    

Initially David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem at the cost of a life (Uzzah) (2 Samuel 6:6–7) since he had not done the preparatory work to see how the ark was to be moved.  

Eventually the ark arrived in Jerusalem and a tent guarded the site of God’s physical evidence of the covenant between himself and people:  the ark of the covenant.  David’s tabernacle was a place of praise as singers were appointed to sing praises to the Lord God there night and day (1 Chronicles 15).

It is the Tabernacle of Praise that was reared by David before the Temple was built in Jerusalem that God promises to rebuild (2 Samuel 6:17, Isaiah 16:5, Amon 9:11 and Acts 15:16).

It has been David’s greater Son, Jesus, who has built the true tabernacle (Revelation 21:3), moveable place to house the Spirit of the Lord in our hearts (Romans 5:5). The true tabernacle of David shall one day descend in the New Jerusalem.  We are the living stones from which it is built to show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:1 - 10). We are to be transparent that the light of God might shine unimpeded through each stone (Ephesians 2).  The final Temple in Jerusalem is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Revelation 21:22).

We were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel without God in the world but in Christ Jesus blood we who were once far off are brought near.  Jesus Christ is our peace breaking down the wall of hostility between us and creating in himself one new humanity instead of two and reconciling us to God in his body through the cross.  Through him we both have access in one Spirit to God the Father.  Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone and in him the whole structure is joined together into a holy dwelling place for God (Ephesians 2:11-22).

All these things are for our sake that abundant grace redounds through thanksgiving to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:14).

(Cathy Bayert is pastor of Greybull First Baptist Church.)