Series Introduction:
Expose the Bible to its bare bones and what you have is promises. Covenants, old and new. It’s Israel’s story and it’s our story. It’s bad news – a breached relationship (actually, an unfathomable chasm) between us and God. But good news comes in multiple promises to bridge that gap. And with each promise the story gains momentum: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses/the Israelites, David, the New Israel. These covenants restore not just safe access to God but intimacy and worthy worship. And, though often shrouded in mystery, at the love story’s centre-point is the one who fulfilled the promises – God’s cherished son, king and perfect sacrifice. That bridge-builder between God and us is the one whom we daily celebrate and profess!
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s not be consumed with the finale at the expense of the first few acts. How did a hot-holy God even do business with generations of sin-infected people? To those promise-keeping patriarchs he sent disaster, he miraculously rescued, he hid in darkness, flame and cloud, he stunned in radiant light, he hollered in storms, he whispered. Let’s take off our shoes with Moses. (If it’s been a while since you walked with Moses I recommend God’s nitty gritty covenant-making, the book of Exodus, read aloud here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSmevXhc6IA )
Remember when Moses asked, Please show me your glory… God didn’t answer, I can’t because you’d never comprehend.
He said, I’ll show you some of my characteristics but you would die from the terror if I showed it all.*
Such dangerous glory! So, squint at just a hint.
God’s idea for a squint-at-just-a-hint was a holy tent shrouded in cloud. And inside that, holy mediators. And beyond them, behind a huge curtain, a box. A glory box. So, what about this Glory Box where God touched down on planet earth?
*See Exodus 33:18-23 and other encounters between Moses and God (Exodus 3:1-6; 24:9-11; 33:7-11).
Reflection: God Tenting With His People
‘And so, Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it…’ Exodus 40:33-35, NIV
Tents. Temporary places to call home. You’ve set them up, fumbled with the poles, tripped over the pegs, relaxed, unwound, packed up and moved on. Isaiah poetically describes God stretching and spreading the horizon like his gossamer tabernacle-tent – a cosmic temple where he could be with the creatures he made (Isaiah 40:21-22). But Rebel-Sin ripped an unholy gash between him and his creation. Now, we read in Exodus of God bridging that guilty gap and of…a new tent. Listen to the almighty God’s tenderness to Moses and his rescued mob of chosen people, Israel: Remember how I carried you out of Egypt as if on eagles’ wings? I brought you near to me. Now if you will obey and keep my covenant…you’ll be my treasured possession, a theocracy of priests, a holy nation, a reflection of me to the world. (Exodus 19:2-6 paraphrased)
No sooner these tender, sobering words were spoken than terror gripped this unholy mob. The desert sky was ripped apart. Thunder, lightning, fire and smoke brandished God’s holy glory. And God launched into his manual on how to maintain a divine-human rapport. Rules, rituals and, yes, a tent. A new temple space for God to mediate with his people.
Prayer: We humbly celebrate your gracious persistence, promises and presence with your people, holy God. Let wonder be a portal to our reverence and worship of you today, “Great Father of glory, pure Father of light…All laud we would render: O help us to see, ‘tis only the splendour of light hideth thee. (Hymn by WC Smith).