Exodus 25:8,9,40
"And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it... And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount."
Scripture tells us much about the person of God. What is He like? Some would say that He has no interest in the things of this life, and that He is only watching with mild, bemused interest, when He doesn't have other things about which to worry. But what does these passages tell us?
The setting of these verses is the exodus from Egypt. The Israelites were only a few days out of Egypt. God had given them the 10 Commandments, and now He was putting other matters in order. What is He telling Moses? I want to dwell with my people in their travels! Does this sound like disinterest? Does this sound like 1,000 mile intimacy? No! He wants to be there with them. He wants to go through the same things as they, and take the same path as they. This is far different idea of God than what most hold to. And as He was 6,000 years ago, so is He today. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" is what He told Paul to tell the Hebrews. That updates us to only 2,000 years ago. And also He said, "I change not." His desire to be with His people is no less now than what we see here from the time of the exodus.
Notice, too, that He tells Moses that the things that were to be built as His home were to be built according to a pattern. It was not up to Moses to decide the size, shape, color, or any other detail of this place of God's abode. He was to build it according to a pattern that God Himself had given. Some of us have more than one home. Maybe a cottage, or some other residence. The things that make us feel at home in both places are generally the same. There are aspects of our secondary home that remind us of our primary home. Both are a reflection of who we are. And it is those same things that help both homes to feel like home. So it is with God. Not only did He want to have a dwelling place with His people, but there were to be things in that dwelling that would be the same as His primary dwelling; just like heaven itself! There are, of course, other reasons why God wanted things to be just so. For all of the things that He wanted done remind Him, and (with some thought) us, of His Son, our Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ. When Isaiah was taken into heaven itself, as recorded in chapter 6 of his book, he speaks of some of the very same things that are described here in Exodus. In the patterns that Moses was to follow, we find the LORD Jesus Christ, and also this concept, that in desiring to be among His people God wanted that which was a reminder of heaven itself.
So, here is God. Among many other aspects of His character we find that He desires to be at home among His people. He is not merely mildly interested in us, neither is He looking after affairs somewhere else, and ignoring the things here on earth. He still has a desire to be among His people, and at home there. Are we making Him feel as if He is at home? Or is there something about us that causes Him to be not quite so comfortable? We know (all of us) what are the things in our lives that make it harder for Him to be at home. Since it is the Maker of heaven and earth, and all that therein is, that desires to dwell with us, we should certainly seek out that which is against Him and His ways, and remove it.
Through the death of the LORD Jesus Christ we have been saved from God's awful wrath against our sin. He paid that price for us. If we have Him as our Savior, then we should desire to make Him feel at home. Happily, by His enabling (through the Holy Spirit) we can clean out that which offends Him, and become a more comfortable home for Him. May we seek to do so, for He desires it!
HJK