Moses received the blueprint for the tabernacle. They carried the tabernacle with them wherever they went (outer, inner/holy place, most holy). However, the ark of the covenant was taken captive, yet the people continued to worship and minister in a place where there was no ARK, no presence, no glory. Then David got the ark back and set it up on Mt. Zion and the people continued to worship at the tabernacle rather than come to the hill where the ark of the covenant resided. Then Jesus came and said I will rebuild this temple in three days, yet they still continued to worship at their synagogues and denied the true Testimony of the Ark of the Covenant fully embodied in Yeshua the Messiah. So the question for us becomes…Where are we still worshipping, making sacrifices, offering where there is no more presence, glory, power? I heard Bishop Long say the definition of backsliding is God moved and you didn’t! Let’s not be like the brothas on the road to Emmaus, that could only remember the history, the death, the embarassment, the PRESENT suffering of Christ even though the (far more exceeding weight of) glory of ETERNITY (Jesus himself) was walking with them on the way to their DESTIN(ation).Luke 24:13-24
I was thinking why God went tghuorh so much trouble to detail the minute specifics of the alter and tent area and how this attention to detail could be relevant to me today. What I came up with is that I shouldn’t take it for granted that I can worship God anytime, anywhere. Even though I can worship freely, I still should prepare with reverence and care. Especially on Sundays, worship shouldn’t begin when I enter church, often late; it should start at home in the morning. Worshiping together as one body is the last part of worship, but how I prepare myself before worship is just as important to God. You can’t run a marathon by getting to the race on time; the training process leading up to the marathon is critical to be able to run a good race. So maybe the SWIM done during the week is also an essential part of my preparation for Sunday worship.