Dwelling Place

God's Holiness & Love

The blood of the Passover sacrifice being applied
to the doorframe of a house

Summary: The Ark and Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle illustrate the doctrine of God's holiness and mercy, substitutionary sacrifice for sinners, and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Relationship

As soon as the Israelites had escaped the slavery of Pharaoh in Egypt and had crossed the sea, they sang a song of deliverance upon the shores of the Red Sea. They praised God for His power, salvation, and their new found relationship with Him. They could sing the lovely words that the LORD Yahweh is my strength, my song, my salvation, my God, and my father's God. Do you have this firm confidence that the LORD God is your salvation, song, and strength?

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. Exodus 15:2 (NIV)

الرب قوّتي ونشيدي . وقد صار خلاصي . هذا الهي فامجّده . اله ابي فارفعه. خروج ١٥‏:٢

Dwelling Place

In Exodus 15:13, they sang that God would guide them to His holy dwelling. It was not until later that we read the description of the Tabernacle and its furniture. Yet even here, they anticipate God guiding them to a holy dwelling place where He would dwell with them. This promise brought joy to their hearts because fellowship with God is the heartbeat of one who has experienced the salvation of the LORD. Do you have this burning desire to have a personal relationship with your Creator?

"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13 (NIV)

ترشد برأفتك الشعب الذي فديته تهديه بقوتك الى مسكن قدسك.   خروج ١٣‏:١٥

Later in the wilderness, when the construction plans for the Tabernacle were actually revealed, it states again that the purpose of the Tabernacle was to have God dwell among His redeemed people. It never was God's purpose to remain remote, alien, and unknown to His children of faith.

"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. ... I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites. Exodus 25:8, 22 (NIV)

فيصنعون لي مقدسا لاسكن في وسطهم.
وانا اجتمع بك هناك واتكلم معك من على الغطاء من بين الكروبين    اللذين على تابوت الشهادة بكل ما اوصيك به الى بني اسرائيل.  خروج ٢٥‏:٨،٢٢

God's Holiness

The description begins with the most holy place of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, and its furniture. Since the holiness of God is the most frightful thing to a guilty sinner, one might wonder why the description would begin here. The reason is simple. Unless the holiness of God were satisfied, God cannot dwell with His people or have a loving relationship with them. Sin is what separates a sinner from God. The very nature of God requires that, first of all, His infinite holiness be maintained.

"And you shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies. Exodus 26:34 (NAS)

وتجعل الغطاء على تابوت الشهادة في قدس الاقداس .   خروج ٢٦‏:٣٤

This teaches us that God must satisfy His infinite holiness before He can have fellowship with lost, helpless, and rebellious sinners. As a result, the description of the Tabernacle does not begin with a description of the beautiful entrance into the Tabernacle's Court or with the Altar of Incense within the Holy place. It begins within the quietness and solemnity of the Holy of Holies and the requirements of God infinite holiness.

God never compromises His holiness to show mercy to sinners. The soul that sins must die. Sin requires death. Thus, the pagan idea of a Balance at the day of Judgment shows how little thought has been given to the infinite Holiness of God All-Mighty. "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. ..." (Habakkuk 1:13). A single sin is sufficient to makes us flee from the penetrating light of God's holiness. Unless God's holiness and righteousness are satisfied, the mighty love of God cannot flow to sinners.

Substitutionary Sacrifice

The shed blood of the Passover lamb satisfied God's holiness. The Israelites were delivered from the bondage of Egypt by the power of God and by the blood of the Passover sacrifice. As a result, they could sing a joyful song of redemption on the shores of the Red sea.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. Exodus 12:13 (NIV)

ويكون لكم الدم علامة على البيوت التي انتم فيها . فأرى الدم واعبر عنكم . فلا يكون عليكم ضربة للهلاك حين اضرب ارض مصر. خروج ١٢‏:١٣

Pharaoh was too proud to submit to God and to apply the blood of a lamb to the doorframe of his palace. He despised a substitutionary sacrifice and chose to depend upon his own self-righteousness. The angel of death passed through the land of Egypt and brought judgment upon the first born of every house that lacked the blood of the lamb upon the doorframe of the house. As a result of Pharaoh's rebellion to God, his first-born son died that night. Have you submitted to God and placed your trust in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God?

At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. Exodus 12:29-30 (NIV)

فحدث في نصف الليل ان الرب ضرب كل بكر في ارض مصر من بكر فرعون الجالس على كرسيه الى بكر الاسير الذي في السجن وكل بكر بهيمة .
فقام فرعون ليلا هو وكل عبيده وجميع المصريين . وكان صراخ عظيم في مصر . لانه لم يكن بيت ليس فيه ميت. خروج ١٢‏:٢٩-٣٠

Divine Guidance

Next, the LORD warned Moses that the Tabernacle and its furnishing had to be made exactly as He had shown him upon Mount Sinai. This teaches us that

In contrast to Muhammad, Moses could not pattern the Tabernacle after the religions of the people of Palestine, Mecca, or Egypt.

we must obey God to achieve the right path. So, Moses could not pattern the Tabernacle after the religious worship of Palestine, Mecca, or any other form of worship. He must explicitly follow the instructions of God and not his own ideas and feelings. This contrasts remarkably with Muhammad who rejected the teachings of the prophets on the necessity of substitutionary sacrifice and turned instead to the religious practices of the pagan Arabs and superimposed apocryphal fables onto these pagan rituals to make them appear to have a divine origin.

Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. Exodus 25:9.

بحسب جميع ما انا أريك من مثال المسكن ومثال جميع آنيته هكذا تصنعون. خروج ٢٥‏:٩

Last edited 10/07/2002
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