At Sinai, God gave Israel not only their law of His covenant, but also the tent of His dwelling. God would be their God by His presence as well as by His word. In the cloud on Mt Sinai, Moses received detailed instructions for the building of the tabernacle, the tent that would be the house of God in the midst of the tents of Israel.
For forty days, Moses remained on top of the mountain, screen from Israel by the cloud of God's presence. Two reflections:
Firstly, what was the twofold purpose of the tabernacle? "that I may dwell in their midst.", "22 There I will meet with you and…I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel" (25:8,22)
Through the tabernacle, God meets with man and reveals His commands for us. We cannot just yearn to see God and live on life with our own agendas. Knowing God entails obedience to His commands as the center of our lives.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Secondly, the mercy seat was a slab of pure gold with cherubim at either end. It acted as a lid on the ark covering the tables of testimony inside. On it, the high priest sprinkled blood to make atonement.
Only above the mercy seat is there atonement and where God and man can meet and commune together (8:20-22) because man's sin is propitiated for by the sprinkled blood. What ultimate blood was sprinkled for us? How should we live in response to this?
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)
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