Place of God's Presence

When the Israelites made their way through the desert, the center of their lives was the tabernacle. This large tent, assembled according to guidelines, contained the Most Holy, the inner place of God's presence on earth. Here the power and holiness was evident to all, with a presence so strong that only the high priest was allowed to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement.

The word "tabernacle" is a new coinage for the tabernacle (the tent of revelation), which in the Latin Bible is called "Tabernaculum Testimonii" (tent of divine revelation). In the Hebrew language it is known as the Mishkan "dwelling" in the sense of God's home on earth.
All along, an Israelite had the tabernacle in the corner of his eye. It was a constant reminder that God was present with His beloved children himself. For centuries the tabernacle was among the people until it was replaced by the temple in Jerusalem. This was the holy place until the time Jesus came to earth.

The prologue to the Book of John tells us: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, a glory as the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1,14). In the original text, the term “camped” stands for the word “lived”. The text could be rendered as follows: "Jesus was born a man and camped among us".
At the time when Jesus came into our world as a man, the presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ was dwelling among us. Suddenly God lives among us and moved into our neighborhood. The elaborate rituals of the old days, in which people had to become ritually clean in order to get into God's presence, are now a thing of the past. The curtain of the temple is torn, and the holiness of God is among us and not far away, set apart in the sanctuary of the temple.

What does that mean for us today? What does it mean that we don't have to go into a building to meet with God, but that He came out to be with us? Jesus took that first step towards us and is now literally Immanuel - God with us.

As God's people, we are at home and in exile at the same time. We walk like the Israelites in the desert, knowing that our true home, if I may say so, is in heaven, in the glory of God. And yet God is dwelling among us.
Right now our place and home is here on earth. Jesus is more than a religion, church, or theological construct. Jesus is the Lord and King of the Kingdom of God. Jesus left his home to find a new home in us. This is the gift of the Incarnation. God became one of us. The Creator became part of his creation, he lives in us today and for all eternity.

God no longer lives in the tabernacle today. Through the faith of Jesus with whom you agree, Jesus lives His life in you. You have received a new, spiritual life through Jesus. They are the tent, the tabernacle, the tabernacle, or the temple in which God fills his presence through you with his hope, peace, joy and love.

from Greg Williams