UNDERSTANDING THE SYMBOLISM OF THE WILDERNESS TABERNACLE

Wouldn’t you have loved to have been in on the conversation when God was  telling Moses how He wanted him to construct the wilderness tabernacle?

Can you imagine the excitement that the two shared?

GOD’S DREAM FOR MANKIND

It must have been amazing.

God was putting together his dream for mankind and Moses was getting to participate.

These instructions are all spelled out in your bible in Exodus Chapter 26.

TEN CURTAINS OF FINE-TWINED LINEN

Moses learned that the inside of the tabernacle should be made of ten curtains of fine-twined linen.  Colors were blue, and purple, and scarlet; with cherubim handmade by expert craftsmen.

God’s description of these items to Moses started with the inside of the tabernacle first, and then progressed slowly toward the explanation of the outside of the tabernacle.

Most humans would have given these instructions in the opposite order; outside to inside; but this is not how God works.  He always starts with the inside and works His way out.

FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Inside Out is the special pattern that God uses for change.  This spiritual pattern also shadows the way God changes a person’s heart. He starts on the inside first.  When the inside is right; the outside seems to make the proper adjustments.

So it was that God revealed the building of the tabernacle to Moses from the inside out.

IF THE INSIDE IS NOT PERFECT; THE OUTSIDE CAN NEVER BE PERFECT

This is the amazing wisdom of a Mighty God; if the inside is not perfect the outside can never be perfect.  This is true of people; and it was also true of God’s dwelling place among the people.

We, in our humanity, tend to see from the outside in; but God in His divinity, sees from the inside out.  He looks upon the spirit and the heart of a person first; not the physical appearance.  This is one of the factors that separates divinity from humanity; this ability to see from the inside out.

The tabernacle was of such a pattern.

Can you see the way that God showed Moses to start building?

Can you see the pattern that is set for constructing our own lives and purifying our own bodies?

God wants us to be as pure and clean as those white linen curtains hanging on the very inside of the wilderness tabernacle.

We must begin on the inside and take care of the matters of the heart and everything else will conform to fit around that pattern.

Our hearts should reflect the white linen curtains of the wilderness tabernacle.

THE MATTERS OF THE HEART COME FIRST

Are there matters of the heart that you must be taking care of?

This is where God wants you to start building your tabernacle as you walk through the wilderness of this world.

That is God’s first instruction to you.  Begin from the inside and work your way out.  Take care of the most important matter first; your heart.

That is how the world will begin to see that very special person that God designed to be you.

That is when the gifts and talents that God gave you at birth will come forth.

Next week we will speak more of these curtains of white linen that were being carefully designed, and skillfully made and placed inside the wilderness tabernacle.

There are many more interesting features that we can use to mirror our own characters by as we worship the wise and mighty God who still dwells among us today.