February 16: A FULLY RESTORED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Revelation 21:3
Though the speaker is not identified here, the loud voice brings special attention to what is being said: “Behold,” meaning Look for yourselves! See, and hear: The tabernacle of God is with men. The speaker is close to God and has awareness of the long-held longing of His great heart of love. This is a pinnacle announcement. Remember that in the process of wooing, instructing, and winning back His beloved people, God told Moses: “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 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.” (Exodus 25:8-9)
The pattern of the tabernacle served as a blueprint—a map, if you will—of God’s plan of salvation. The divine symbolism of every detail of the tabernacle was to communicate to fallen man God’s plan to deal with our most urgent need: the problem of sin. This blueprint (and map) was very exact: “just so you shall make it.” It is a beautiful illustration of His mercy, grace, and everlasting love! He invites us to come home to Him, and He shows us the Way. The directions are clear. Do you and I intend to follow them all the way to completion?
The idea of God’s people tabernacling with Him is a long-held, sacred precept. The tabernacle, and later the temple, powerfully symbolized God’s abiding Presence among His people. This is where the people were shown a glimpse of the glory of God (see Exodus 40:34-35; Leviticus 9:23-24). But their sin repeatedly got in the way, creating one rift after another in the relationship. Patiently continuing to reach out, God sent His Son: 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 (John 1:14). The unfaithfulness of the children of Israel ultimately resulted in His presence being removed from them. Jesus said as much after He left the temple for the last time: “See! Your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38).
The Jewish readers of John’s day would have immediately understood today’s verse as the glorious fulfillment of the divine promise of a fully restored relationship with all who accept His gracious offer of salvation. God has revealed enough of Himself to those looking for Him (see 1 Corinthians 2:10), that the experience of living in the land of the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 24:5) – which is pretty much the whole world today – is sufficient to compare the devastations of sin to the perfections of a world whose inhabitants are fully yielded to the God of love.
“I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” Jeremiah 24:7