Creating a Space

The Jews have been examining the record of the building of the Tabernacle for quite some time.  They have noticed some incredible undercurrents taking place in the Text.  What I'm about to show you takes an awful lot of time scouring the Text to find and notice; it is certainly not something that you would notice on a cursory reading.

I am going to ask you to do a little bit of work (and if I didn't think it was worth it, I wouldn't ask you to do it).  I would like you to grab a Bible or open up a tab for an online version so that you can see the Text for yourself.  I will even put hyperlinks in the blog text below so all you have to do is click on the verse.  When you've done this, I'd like you to look up the following list of verses:

Exodus 25:1
Exodus 30:11
Exodus 30:17
Exodus 30:22
Exodus 30:34
Exodus 31:1
Exodus 31:12

Now, I know you think I've either made a mistake or lost my mind.  Why in the world would I want you to look up those verses?

Go back up to that list and count how many of those references there are.

There are seven.

The Tabernacle is created with seven “the LORD saids.”  Can you think of anything else that was created with seven “and God saids”?

Creation.  The construction of the Tabernacle is narrated as a retelling of the story of Genesis 1.  Did you know that one of the things that the Jews call Torah is the Tree of Life?  Where did they keep the Torah?  In the Ark of the Covenant.  Which sits inside the Holy of Holies, behind the curtain.  Which has two cherubim on it.  Guess where we first encountered cherubim in the Text…  Genesis 3, when God sets up cherubim with a flaming sword — to guard the tree of life.

Don't believe me?  Just check the verse that follows the last and seventh “the LORD said” in the list above.  “Tell the Israelites to observe my Sabbaths.”

This is a retelling of creation.

I was standing in the desert just outside of Egypt in 2008 when my teacher, Ray VanderLaan, pointed a finger in my face and shouted, “The first time, God created the space and said, ‘You fill it.’  But that didn't work very well.  So this time God said, ‘You create the space, AND I'LL FILL IT!’ ”

Which leads me to my reflection: I believe the construction of the Tabernacle models an unspoken promise that God has made to His people.  If you will create a space in your life for God, He will fill it.  The question is, will you create a space?

What would have happened if the Israelites would have never created the Tabernacle?  The fascinating thing is that we run around like chickens with our heads cut off, filling our lives with busyness, and then we are just flabbergasted that God doesn't interrupt our days with His undeniable presence.

If we won't create a space, why would we expect God to fill it?

But if you do create the space, God will fill it.

He may not fill it the way you want or expect, but if you will create a space in your life — a discipline, an hour of listening, a sabbath rest, a location of retreat — I believe that God will fill it.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:2–3)

“And so Moses finished the work.”  (Exodus 40:33)

“The Israelites had done all the work just as the the LORD had commanded Moses.  Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded.  So Moses blessed them.”  (Exodus 39:42–43)