I don’t think I have ever noticed before how Moses built the
tabernacle. He "laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its
poles, and raised up its pillars. And he
spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it…" Go back and look at the first paragraph of
that reading and see how many times the word "he" appears in
connection with setting up the
tabernacle. If you have ever set up a
small tent you know that can be a pain in the neck even today with the simple
construction designed for one person to do the work. If you're my age you know that even a pup
tent could be difficult to do by yourself thirty years ago. Imagine being an Israelite about three
thousand years ago and seeing your leader putting up an enormous tent and
putting everything in place in that tent that would be used for worship. Imagine even today seeing a pastor do the
same thing. Moses was God's man and he
was the one to whom God had given the plan.
At some level here it seems it would look a bit like Noah and the
ark. When he was done, the glory of God
filled the tabernacle, the big tent. All
the people knew once again that Moses was the anointed one of God.
I have said it before and it bears repeating, this passage
regarding turning the other cheek applies to when an evil person mistreats you,
not a brother. If a brother sins against
us we go not to Matthew 5 but to Matthew 18 to know how to respond. In both these teachings, on retaliation and
loving our enemies, we are taught pacifism in private relationships. In fact, we are taught to practice more than
pacifism, we are taught to practice something far more radical than pacifism,
non-resistance and non-violence, we are taught to practice love. Jesus shows us the way of love from the
cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We have an enemy, only one, satan. Too often we make the mistake of having many
enemies, other sinners created in the image of God and forget that our battle isn't
against flesh and blood, but "the rulers, against the authorities, against
the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly places." Spiritual
battles require spiritual weapons and armor.
We have to live out God's plan God's way.
How do Paul's words on sexual morality tie in with the first
two lessons? In all three lessons we see
that God gave a blueprint for something: building the tabernacle or
relationships with enemies, and those plans are the only ones that actually
work because they are designed by the ultimate designer of all things, the one
who knows us better than we know ourselves.
AW Tozer wrote, “Why did Christ come? Why was he conceived? Why was he
born? Why was he crucified? Why did he rise again? Why is he now at the right
hand of the Father? The answer to all these questions is, “in order that he
might make worshipers out of rebels; in order that he might restore us again to
the place of worship we knew when we were first created.” At heart we are rebels who kick against the goads
of our own creation. We live in a time
when surgical procedures can undo the work of creation in our bodies. Sexual morality is to be governed by the
reason for which it was primarily given to us and that is to be fruitful and multiply. It is also for pleasure but within the bounds
of loving committed relationship, the relationship we call marriage. In all things our lives are best not only for
the kingdom but for us when we live according to the will of the one who
created us.
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