Scripture to Read: Exodus 25:1–22
God had to have a place to live among the Israelites so they could worship Him and hear from Him as He led them each day. In Exodus 25:1–9, God told Moses that the people needed to “raise a contribution” for Him. Then, Israelites were to donate “gold, silver and bronze, 4 blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, 5 rams ’skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, 6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece” (Exodus 25:3–7). The Israelites would build a sanctuary for God with everything God told them to donate. God began to lay out His plan by telling Moses how to make the ark of the testimony. A great video depicting what it might have looked like (they also read the Scripture in which God laid out the details of the ark of the testimony to Moses) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KejXOYayxjU. God told Moses this in Exodus 25:22: “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” This is a beautiful reminder that God has always chosen to fellowship with us. As Christians, we get to fellowship with our Lord daily because Christ perfectly fulfilled God’s Law and then did the same in us (Romans 8:2–4).
Challenge & Application
· What do you do each day to take advantage of God’s invitation to fellowship with Him and learn from Him?
· How much different would it be to fellowship with God if we still had to go to a man-made sanctuary?
Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!