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22 The Tabernacle "I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship." The helpers of Bezaleel were Aho1iab and all the "wise hearted." God gave them wisdom for the work, even as in every age His work can be done only by those who are given "the wisdom that is from above" (James 1: 5; 3: 17). God in the Midst of His People In the beginning of this lesson we read from the in- spired record that God's purpose in asking Moses to build the tabernacle was that He might dwell among His people whom He had redeemed. It has always been God's desire to have fellowship with His creatures. In the Garden of Eden He talked with Adam, taking to our first parent the animals of His creation, to see what Adam would call them. "And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." Thus God set His seal of approval upon what man did, while man rejoiced in the works of God's hands. But sin entered to mar that beautiful fellow- ship! And ever since the fall of man, God has been seek- ing the sinner, desiring to restore that broken fellowship and communion. Man was put at a distance from God through sin; yet God's heart of love remained the same. He walked with Enoch for more than three hundred years. He bade Noah enter the ark, saying, "Come"-not "Go," but "Come." God was with Noah in that ark. During the patriarchal age God talked with His chosen ones; appeared unto them; held sweet communion with them; ever pointing ,them on to the Saviour who was to
The Tabernacle come. And now, in the wilderness, He wanted to dwell in a tent, in the fiery, cloudy pillar, holding communion with His people on the basis of the shed blood of the sacrifice which foreshadowed the blood of Christ. Still later, when Israel possessed the land of Canaan and lived in houses, God told Solomon to build Him an house, the beautiful temple in Jerusalem. Again, He filled it with His glory, departing from it only when the sins of His people sep- arated them from their God. The centuries passed. Then one day God came down to "tabernacle" among men, "Im- manuel, God with us," "God manifest in the flesh." He walked and talked with men. A few loved Him and re- ceived His love. Many more scorned Him, mocked Him, spat upon Him, crucified Him, thrust Him out of the world at the point of a spear. And then He sent His Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who would receive Him, even the Third Person of the Trinity, who abides with His church forever. And that brings us to this blessed trutl:.: not only does the tabernacle in the wilderness speak to us of the Lord Jesus; it does, first and primarily; but it also speaks to us of the living temple which is His church, "th'e habitation of God through the Spirit," the body and the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each blood-bought child of God, from Pentecost to the Rapture, is a "living stone" in that build- ing for eternity. And "where two or three are gathered together" in His name, there He dwells with them "in the midst" (Matt. 18 :20). He seeks the fellowship of His redeemed. In the millennium He will dwell in the midst of His earthly people, Israel, with His heavenly bride reigning with Him in glory. Then in the eternal state His great desire for fellowship with His own will be fully realized.
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