The Tent of Meeting

 

Ex 33:9-10

As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

This tent was Moses’ personal tent, which he pitched far outside the camp, in the time before the Tabernacle was built. He called it the Tent of Meeting, and everyone who sought the Lord could visit this tent. However, Joshua his young minister, was not content with a visit every now and then, he never left the tent - he abided there.

The Hebrew word mishkan was the name of the tent or Tabernacle that came later and means dwelling. It was where God dwelt among His people throughout the Exodus and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. The mishkan was the place where people went to pray, and to ask the priests to intercede for them.

This is a picture of what prayer is. It means entering the place where God dwells, meeting Him there, and speaking to Him face to face because He considers us His friends. So, we ask the question: Is this possible? And we wonder to ourselves: but we are not like Moses, how can it happen for us?

Let’s find our answers in what Jesus did for us on the cross!

He became Immanuel – God with us (Matthew 1:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). This means God came to earth to dwell among us in the form of man, as Jesus.

He does not need a special temple anymore, instead our bodies become His temple and He lives within us through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? …..)

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (where God dwelt in the Temple) was torn from top to bottom, giving believers direct access to God (Heb 10:20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.)

And we then became His friends (John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.)

So yes, it is possible!  The question we must consider is: Will we be paying Him a visit now and then? Or will we follow Joshua’s example and abide with Him?

Pearls to ponder:

Prayer is a meeting between us and God; it’s about dwelling where He dwells. This means that we must become aware of the fact that our spirit is a mishkan, a Tent of Meeting where He is eagerly awaiting our visits…. let’s keep running into that sanctuary, that place of peace, joy, and rest!

You are my hiding place