Habitation of God

“Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” -Exodus 40:34

What do you desire to have in this life?  What do you desire to have in your home, in your church, your school, your workplace?  We all have dreams, goals, and ambitions; we all strive to understand and formulate plans to accomplish those dreams, goals, and ambitions.  However, how many of us desire the glory of the Lord?  Are we actively seeking to be a habitation of God?  Jesus has paved the way, finished the work, and made it so we can be a habituation for God.  But, to be a habitation of God, instead of a habitation for the devil it takes faith, belief, and obedience. 

In the Old Testament, under the old covenant, the means and instruments of absolution were physical.  You had the outer court hangings with their hooks, and rings, and pillars.  Within the court by the East entrance, you had the brazen alter and laver.  Behind that was the tabernacle, or tent, with its hooks and rings, curtains, and pillars.  Within the tabernacle was the menorah, the shewbread, the table for the shewbread, and the alter of incense.  Directly behind the alter of incense was the veil that stretched from the top of the tabernacle to the bottom.  It separated the ark of the covenant, creating an area of the tabernacle known as the Holiest of Holies.  Every detail, every part of the tabernacle, was instructed by God to Moses on how it should be manufactured and built.  The size, materials, type of construction, how it was to be carried and who could carry it; all this was instructed by God.  Moses was given the commandments, and he worked to perform them as the Lord commanded.  The last sentence of the thirty third verse in the book of Exodus reads “So Moses finished the work.”  After the work was done, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 

As people, human beings walking this earth, we seem predisposed to a want of understanding.  We lack it, strive for it, and obtain it.  This is a benevolent endeavor.  Solomon said “get wisdom and with all they are getting get understanding.”  However, in all our knowledge and desire for understating one thing will never go away: faith.  You cannot learn your way to salvation.  You cannot reason into righteousness.  It is always “saved by grace through faith.”  Moses task was one of obedience.  Belief.  Faith.  He trusted God, feared God, and instructed the people to build the tabernacle.  They followed God, performed the commandments, and when the work was done the glory filled the tabernacle.  They had to follow in obedience and finish the work before the glory would fill the tabernacle.  Like the song says “Old Satan said my Lord was gone and would not hear my prayer.  But praise the Lord the work is done, and Christ the Lord is here!”  If you have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, and ask the Lord to fill you with His Spirit; he will finish the work and the glory will fill you making you a habitation of God.

If God’s glory is to fill our lives.  We must be obedient to His commandments.  Much of what Moses was doing was creating a habitation for God.  The holy God could not dwell in an unholy place.  When we as sinful man reject God, we reject a God who desires us to come and dwell within.  This cannot be unless we are clean, unless the work is done, and Christ the Lord is there.  If we are obedient to God and His Christ, the glory will fill our hearts and fill our lives.