THE TENT

It wasn’t a flimsy little tent!

It was a two-room structure, fifteen feet wide with fifteen-foot walls. The front room, known as the Holy Place, was thirty feet deep. It was separated from the back room, the Holy of Holies, by the “Veil.” The Holy of Holies was cubical in dimension; fifteen feet wide, fifteen feet deep, and fifteen feet tall. Overall, the tent was fifteen feet wide and forty-five feet deep.

The front room, the Holy Place, had three articles of furniture. As you entered from the east, the Table was set up on your right – the north (Exodus 40:22). On the opposite wall (Exodus 40:24) stood the lampstand, casting enough light for the priests to do their daily activities. At the farthest end of the room, placed just in front of the Veil, stood the Golden Altar where incense burned perpetually.

Behind the Veil, in the middle of the Holy of Holies, the Ark sat, with its lid, the Mercy Seat.

The walls on the two sides and the back were made of planks of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold (Exodus 26:15, 29). The polished gold walls must have glistened and gleamed in the dancing light of the lampstand. The ceiling was a tapestry of “finely spun linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with a design of cherubim worked into them” (Exodus 26:1).

It must have been like walking into a museum … or maybe the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo’s painted ceiling … or like walking into the throne room of a powerful king!

No.

It was like entering the Lord’s royal chambers. Solid gold furnishings. Gleaming gold walls. Ornate tapestries with figures of angels looking down in reverent worship. It was holy ground. Awe, amazement, wonder. “The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34). God was present!

There are plenty of church building that have mud-brick walls and thatched roofs, or no walls … there are churches that meet under a mango tree … or in a dimly lit apartment building away from the prying eyes of oppressive governments ... and probably, there are churches that meet in flimsy little tents. Church auditoriums don’t need gold-plated walls or painted ceilings, but every time the Body of Christ meets, wherever the Body of Christ meets, the Spirit of the Living God is welcomed!

Wherever God’s people meet, He meets with them… and wherever we meet, we should be in awe of His glorious presence.

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).