Walking the Talk - 15 February

Which verse did you pick yesterday? Did applying the 5Ws and an H to a verse make it more meaningful? In what way?

I picked this verse because it’s one that is easy to just read over, not looking at the underlying meanings.

Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting…  Ex 39:32 (ASV)

Who: The Israelites

What: The completion of the Tent of Meeting

When: After they had been miraculously saved from the Egyptians by God

Where: In the wilderness

Why: The Israelites voluntarily and sacrificially gave to create their moveable tabernacle. Just a few verses earlier, we read of the only time that church members gave so much that they were told stop. We have enough.  

And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make. 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. 7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. Ex 36:5-7 (ASV)

For the Israelites, the Tent of Meeting was the moveable tabernacle of God. It represented their church building, and was guarded by the tribes when they camped. This was a large building with many heavy metal pieces, and took much time to carefully take down and put back up. The Tent represented the moveable state of Israel, and the curtains which cut of the holy and most holy places from the people represented the separation from God. When Jesus was crucified, these curtains (which were very thick) were torn from top to bottom, representing the tearing of the wall separating us from God through Christ’s blood. I always find the “types of Christ” parallels in the Old Testament fascinating. Everything God ever did was for one purpose – to point the way to His Son, Jesus Christ.

Practice this exercise one more time this week. Pick a verse or two today or tomorrow and apply the 5Ws and an H. Let me know which verse you picked!

On Friday, we will continue with our study, reading Paul’s words in Ephesians as we learn more about what God thinks – about us!

See you then.