Friday, November 22, 2019

Exodus 26:1 says, Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.  This verse and the next several are details of how the tabernacle was to be built.  There was to be an inner curtain and an outer one.  The tabernacle was to be mobile, since God's people had no permanent home, and we as God's people have no permanent home in the world today, so we should be mobile as a church.  There were to be cherubim made in the curtains to overlook the mercy seat.  Verse two states, The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.  Verse three adds, The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another.  This gives the dimensions of the curtains and how they were to be fastened together.  This was not Moses' design but God's design.  When we are building God's church today, and I don't mean the buildings but the people who are God's church, we must follow His design.  Verse four says, And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.  Then verse five adds, Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another.  Then verse six continues, And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.  The curtains were to be made so that they would fit together and be one tabernacle.  We today, as God's people, are to fit together as one church.  God wants His people to be one people, no matter how they may in separated by the world.  Verse seven says, And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.  These were to be the outer curtains, and they were to be more durable.  Verse eight states, The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. The dimensions of the outer curtain are given.  Verse nine adds, And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle.  Verse ten continues, And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second.  Verse eleven concludes, And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.  This outer curtain was not to be as pretty as the inner curtain, and it was to fit together as one curtain.  We, as followers of Christ should be more beautiful, on the inside, in our soul, than we are on the outside, or our physical being.  It doesn't matter what we look like physically, as long as we are dedicated to following God's will.  We should never put more emphasis on how a church building looks than on how the people inside function in God's kingdom.  We must also fit together as one church.  Verse twelve says, And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.  Verse thirteen adds, And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. Then verse fourteen concludes, And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.  The tabernacle was to be ornate on the inside and durable on the outside and it was to be mobile.  We as the church should be ornate on the inside, filled with God's presence, and durable on the outside, not giving in to the pressures that the world may place on us.  Also, we must be mobile, going into the world as God sends us to share the gospel with the lost world.

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