The Tabernacle of God

The “tabernacle of God is with men.” What an amazing promise!

And yet, this promise echoes what happened with Jesus when He came to Earth. In the Gospel of John, we read, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14). The Greek verb for “dwelt” is from a root that means “to tabernacle” or “to pitch a tent.”

The idea of tabernacling with God has a long and sacred history, one that John’s Jewish readers would have instantly understood. And that’s because this verse would have made them think of their nation’s first tabernacle, the wilderness sanctuary, built by the instructions of God to Moses: “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell [tabernacle] among them” (Exodus 25:8).

In the next verse, this sanctuary is called the “tabernacle.” The passage reads: “According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it” (25:9). This is one of hundreds of texts about the “tabernacle,” where God dwelt among His people here on Earth.

Thus, the text for today reflects an idea that has reverberated throughout history: the presence of God dwelling among us. However, in this case, something radically different unfolds, and that’s because His people are no longer separated from Him by their sin—because Jesus has come, not once but twice, and has solved the sin problem forever.

In ancient Israel, God expressed His desire that “I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33), but the people’s sin always got in the way. No longer. From now on, they will be His people and “God Himself will be with them” forever (Revelation 21:2).

Dear God, right now, I want to be one of Your people and You to be my God. I want to be with You forever.

For Further Study: Jeremiah 24:7; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Hebrews 9:2

Key Bible Texts

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3 KJV)