One Piece

Within the tabernacle stood the Holy of Holies, the place where the High Priest would enter once a year to make atonement for the sin of Israel. It contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat that sat upon it.

The Ark contained the sin and rebellion of the people represented by the tablets of stone (the law), the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod. The Israelites had rebelled against Moses when he was receiving the tablets of stone, they had rebelled against Aarons’s leadership, and they had complained about God’s provision through the manna (Ex 32:19, Ex 16:8, Num 17:10).

The Mercy Seat was the lid or cover of the Ark.  At each end of the Mercy Seat, and of one piece with it, were two hammered gold cherubim facing one another. Their outstretched wings overshadowed the gold lid and their faces constantly looked down upon it. They were made of one piece of gold that had been hammered into shape. (from Biblehistory.com)

Even though casting at that time was known to the Israelites, God’s instruction was (Ex 37:7) “And he made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy seat;
:8 one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; he made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at the two ends.
:9And the cherubim had their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces toward each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.”

 Once a year the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of sacrifice for himself and the people. That blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat to atone for sin. It was sprinkled over the Ark in which the sin of the people was represented.
The cherubim, who were angels of judgment, looked down at the blood that had been sprinkled over the sin and were appeased. Judgment was satisfied through the Mercy Seat.
Jesus Christ is our Mercy Seat today.

 It has been commented that the one piece of hammered gold represented the beating of Jesus Christ as He went to the Cross. In thinking of the number of times the one piece of gold had to be struck to form the Mercy Seat, how many were those strokes? It was one solid piece of gold. How many strokes were needed to form the cherubim, with wings and faces looking down and being one piece with the base?

How many times was the one piece of gold struck? 

 How many times was our Savior beaten and struck to bear the sin of the world? The once and for all suffering that Jesus endured for me is the one time in all eternity the sin debt was paid for. (Hebrew 7:27)

He is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way to know God.
Jesus was beaten, struck, and hammered to form the perfect all together lovely Savior that now reigns forever. His blood now offers redemption and the forgiveness of sin for all who will accept His perfect sacrifice for them.
 One piece of gold, one Divine Savior, so that we could be united and be one with a holy God.

Thank You, Father, for Jesus.

Loops of Unity

God gave Moses a detailed description of how to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Every detail has meaning for us today.
Ex 36:11
And he made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set; he did likewise on the edge of the curtain that was outermost in the second set.
:13 And He made fifty clasps of gold and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps, so the tabernacle was a unit (one).

Commentaries say that blue, which translated is really violet, represents heaven with the wide spectrum of colors displayed in it. Also that the loops in the curtain, represent the unity God desires, that there are no separations in His tabernacle. These loops were joined together by 50 gold clasps. Gold in the Bible represents Diety. Jesus, our God, is the true unifier of men.

We are His temple today and He desires unity among His people. I thought of the song “Kum ba yah”. When it is sung people loop their arms together in a spirit of unity.  And for that moment that spirit prevails and fills the hearts of those who are together.

 How greatly our God desires unity among His people!  He pours His Spirit out into our hearts that we may see others through His eyes pure, holy, and blameless.  He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, our Savior, to break down the walls in our hearts that prevent us from loving others as He has loved us.

He has an infinite well of grace for us to draw from. And that grace to love is not for the moment but for each moment of our life’s journey on this earth.

To see others as He has enabled us to see them, justified by the blood of Jesus, raised up and seated with Him at the right hand of the Father and deeply loved by Him, is a freedom that enriches our lives.

Romans 3:24 ..being justified by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Eph 2:6…and raised up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  :7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
This surpassing richness of His grace is for us today. Right now.

The True Builder

God knows the plans He has for us…

Ex 35:1-9
Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do.
:2 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
:3 “You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.
:4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, saying,
:5 "Take from among you a contribution to the LORD; whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze,
:6 and blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goats’ hair,
:7 and rams’ skins dyed red, and porpoise skins, and acacia wood,
:8 and oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil, and for fragrant incense,
:9 and onyx stones and setting stones, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

(Every single thing used pointed to Jesus Christ.)

“See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
:31 And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship:
:32 to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze,
:33 and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work."
:34 “He also has put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
:35 He has filled them with wisdom to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs.

 The whole process of leading the Israelites through the building of the Tabernacle where You, Father, would meet with them, is so inspiring for us today.

You are such a God of order and wisdom.

This was the order:
First, You spoke to Moses and gave Him the words to speak to the Israelites. You gave Him the plan.

• (Ex 35:2). Then Moses spoke to the people about the Sabbath rest. You knew they needed to obey the Sabbath rest . Surely many would be so excited and “into” their work so much that they would want to keep on working until done, without resting. The work was intricate and was all to be of excellent quality. This was a holy work which was to be done.

 This so reminded me of when working on crochet, knitting, or even reading a book, I never want to stop until finished, especially doing hand work.
But in Your wisdom You knew the importance of rest so that the absolute excellence of work would not suffer.

• (35:5) Moses then instructed whoever had a willing heart was to give a contribution (heave offering, an offering made as a present)
• (35:10) Every skillful man was to come and make all that the Lord commanded. And Moses then proceeded to explain all that needed to be made.
• (35:21) The offerings were received. Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came and brought the LORD’S offering for the work of the Tabernacle, its service and for the holy garments. 

In thinking of all the gold, silver, and valuable materials that needed to be given, the thought came to me that the Israelites had been slaves. They had been very poor. They were given these valuable things by the Egyptians according to God’s favor and plan at the exodus out of Egypt.. (Ex 12:35-36) These slaves all of a sudden had expensive jewelry and clothing from the rich. Yet when God stirred their hearts to give for the sake of building the tabernacle, they willingly let go of these new treasures. This is how they had the provision to build the Tabernacle.

God sees and considers the needs of the future.

•    (35:30You then called out Bezalel and filled him with Your Spirit in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship  and to perform every inventive work. Also along with Oholiab, You put in their heart to teach and perform every work with wisdom of heart.
• (Ex 36:2) Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every person in whose heart You had put wisdom, and whose heart stirred him to come to the work to perform it.

           This was an amazing process guided by Your Spirit every step of the way.
This reminds me so, Father, of the assurance we Your children have in Your providing everything needed to do the work on this earth that You created us for. Our confidence can rest in Your love and faithfulness toward us so that Your will comes to completion.
            You truly are the Master Builder. Your voice speaks to us and directs us. You give  a willing heart to obey, You provide the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge through filling us with Your Spirit. You stir the hearts of people with the needed gifts and talents, to join in the work, and You provide any material thing needed.

In this passage of Ex 35 and 36:1-2 at least 10 times it is mentioned that YOU filled, stirred, moved, or put in the heart of the people that which was necessary to complete the task. Wow!

Thank you Father, that You are teaching us to trust You and to place all of our  confidence in You.  This is true rest.