Daily Lesson for Wednesday 3rd of September 2025
God was teaching His people through various means, and one of them was through the sanctuary. All its services pointed to Jesus; they were object lessons in the plan of salvation, which would be wrought out through Jesus many centuries later.
Read Exodus 25:1-9. What crucial, practical, and theological truths are seen in these verses?
Even though God was leading the Israelites and already was close to them, He instructed Moses to build a sanctuary:
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
“ ‘Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them’ ” (Exodus 25:8, NIV). God wanted to show them tangibly that He indeed was with them. Even though they had done wrong many times, He had not forsaken them, and “after they were again taken into favor with Heaven” (Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 343), they were given the divine command, and the process of building the sanctuary began.
The Bible assures us that God does not live in human-made temples and buildings (Acts 7:47-50) because He is bigger than the heaven of heavens, and heaven cannot contain Him. Paul at Areopagus in Athens states: “ ‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands’ ” (Acts 17:24, NIV). Also, King Solomon states: “ ‘But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!’ ” (1 Kings 8:27, ESV). The sanctuary was to be where God would manifest His presence to them.
The Israelites were to bring a voluntary offering for the building of the sanctuary. They were to give precious and expensive gifts, including gold, silver, bronze, acacia wood, various kinds of fine cloth, olive oil, and spices.
In Exodus 25:10-40; Exodus 26:1-37; Exodus 27:1-21, we are given many details about the tabernacle and its services. God provided Moses with a blueprint containing specific instructions on how to build and furnish the tabernacle, including the ark of the covenant, the shewbread table, the lampstand, the altars, the curtains, the colors, and the measurements.
Moses had to build the tabernacle according to the pattern God showed him (Exodus 25:9,40; Exodus 26:30), which was a reflection of the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:1-2; Hebrews 9:11). The earthly sanctuary had served a crucial function until the death of Jesus and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, which rendered the earthly sanctuary null and void, a truth symbolized by the rending of the curtain before the Most Holy Place at Christ’s death (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38).
(0)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25c-10-in-the-midst-of-his-people/
