Sep 29 2024
Where the Streets Have No Name
“I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name
I wanna feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust-cloud
Disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter
From the poison rain
Where the streets have no name”
So begins U2’s 1987 song, “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It’s unclear exactly what Bono meant by these words. But there’s at least the idea of wanting to get beyond ourselves to a place that’s beautiful and safe. He wants to “touch the flame” without being burned, to feel the warmth of the sun, and to find shelter from the “poison rain.”
Whatever else Bono might mean, these words illustrate a longing we all have, a longing to be in a place where we’re seen and secure, a place where we’re finally free and fully alive.
- S. Lewis, in his sermon “The Weight of Glory,” lays out what’s called the “argument from desire.”[1] He says that if we were made to commune with God in Paradise, just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning, then this desire will be in us. Have you noticed this longing in yourself?
We Were Made for God
God created the cosmos as the house where he’d live with humanity. After sin defiled the earth, God withdrew his presence from his people. But his original purpose was unchanged: God would restore his kingdom on the earth and bring his people back into his presence to live under his rule and blessing again.
At Mount Sinai, this restoration began to take shape. God told Israel that he was coming to live with his people again. But it would have to be on his terms.
What did God want? Why did God want it? And what does God want now? To these questions we now turn as we move into Exodus 25-27.
What Did God Want?
First, what did God want? Obedience, yes. But he also wanted fellowship. The Lord wanted conformity and communion. The Lord didn’t want to just tell his people what to do. He wanted to live with them. The Lord wanted a tabernacle (25:1-9, 26:1).
The tabernacle is massively important in the book of Exodus. The exodus from Egypt gets about two chapters, the Ten Commandments get two thirds of one chapter, but the tabernacle gets thirteen chapters (chs. 25-31, 35-40). The presence of God among his people is a priority in Exodus.
The building of the tabernacle isn’t an isolated event. It’s part of the larger story that starts in Genesis 1 and goes to Revelation 22. The tabernacle points us back to the Garden of Eden, where God lived with man, and forward to the New Heavens and New Earth, where he’ll live with man again.
The tabernacle was beautiful, especially compared to the dusty and dirty surroundings of the desert. The tabernacle was designed to be a place of majesty. It was a portable palace for the King. This is why God was intentional, careful, and deliberate in his design of the tabernacle (25:9, 40, 26:30, 27:8). God cared about every detail because it was the King’s house.
The Ark of the Covenant
The King’s house would be furnished with several items, each of which serving an important purpose. In 25:10-22, the Lord gives Moses instructions for the ark of the covenant, the most important of all the pieces of furniture.
It’s a simple box overlaid with gold that was around three and a half feet long and around two and a half feet wide and two and half feet high. It has feet to keep the base from touching the floor and two poles that stay in place at all times.
The ark is arguably the most sacred object in the Old Testament, but it often wasn’t used in the way God intended. The Israelites used it like a good luck charm to give them victory in battle (1 Sam. 4-6), and Uzzah is killed on the spot when he tries to prevent it from falling off a cart (2 Sam. 6).
But the ark wouldn’t be needed forever. Jeremiah says that there will come a day when the people will no longer say, “‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.” Rather, “Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall gather to it” (Jer. 3:16-17). There’s a day coming when the glory of the Lord that used to fill a box will fill all God’s people, who’ll all be a living and breathing ark.
Until then, the ark will hold the “testimony” (Ex. 25:16, 21) and will be covered by a “mercy seat” (v. 17). This “seat,” or lid, will have two cherubim facing one another with their wings stretched out over the top. This is where God will meet with Moses to speak with him (v. 22) and also where the blood will be sprinkled on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14).
The Table and Lampstand
The next thing God instructs Moses to build is a table (Ex. 25:23-30). The table will hold the “bread of the Presence” (v. 30; Lev. 24:5-9). Once a week, twelve loaves of bread are placed on the table. They aren’t for God to eat, like the pagan nations around Israel would think, so they don’t have to be replaced daily, only weekly. It’s not that Yahweh has a slower metabolism than other gods. He doesn’t need food at all. As he says in Psalm 50:12, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.” God doesn’t need bread because the Creator doesn’t need the creation.
Next, in verses 31-40, Moses is given instructions for a lampstand. The lamp sits opposite the table and is lit each evening (30:7-8). The lampstand is in the shape of a tree, with branches and flowers and almond blossoms (vv. 32-33). It points us back to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, reminding us that God’s presence brings life and light to his people.
It also points us forward to something Jesus said about himself. During the Feast of Booths, when the Jews remembered how God sustained them in the wilderness, Jesus stood up and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). Jesus says he’s the Menorah of the world. His light isn’t confined to a tent but lights up the cosmos.
If Jesus is the light of the world, then his followers must also be light: “You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16). The lamp only shines if it has oil (Ex. 27:20-21). In the same way, our lives only shine if we’re filled with the oil of the Spirit.
The Curtains, Frame, and Veil
Chapter 26 outlines the instructions about the tabernacle itself, starting with the curtains (vv. 1-14), then the frames (vv. 15-30), and then the veil and curtain for the Holy Place (vv. 31-37).
There are a few things to note here. First, the fact that there are entrances into the courtyard, the holy place, and the most holy place means that there’s a way into God’s presence. But that didn’t mean anyone could just walk right in (40:35). The dilemma for Israel was that there was a “Do not enter” sign above the entrance. God lived with them but was separate from them.
Second, the presence of gold everywhere would’ve been stunning. Almost everything was covered in gold, from the furniture to the frames. The presence of gold points us back to the Garden where there was gold (2:11-12), and forward to the New Jerusalem, the “city of pure gold” (Rev. 21:18, 21). Gold, the most precious metal, points to the beauty of God.
Third, the colors of the curtains point us to Jesus. The curtains were made of white linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarns (26:1). Many interpreters through the centuries saw the blue as symbolic of Jesus’ heavenly origin, the purple as symbolic of his royalty, the red as symbolic of his blood, and the white as symbolic of his purity and perfection.
The fact that the curtains all use the same colors reminds us that there’s still only one way into God’s presence. After Jesus’ flesh was opened on the cross, the curtain was opened in the temple (Mk. 15:38), opening the way into the Most Holy Place.
This is what the writer to the Hebrews is talking about when he says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (10:19-22).
Does the thought of walking into God’s presence scare you or excite you? If your heart has been cleansed by Jesus’ blood, you won’t fear going into the Most Holy Place, you’ll want to.
Why Did God Want It?
What God wanted was a tabernacle, a tent, to live in. But why did he want it? The tabernacle was designed to be a visual aid for spiritual realities.[2] The Lord wanted the tabernacle so that he, a holy God, could live with Israel, an unholy people.
Since the Fall, we’re all sinners and separated from God. Because of Israel’s sinfulness, there had to be distinctions between them and God in every possible way.
Every aspect of the tabernacle pointed to the holiness of God, whether the gold or colored curtains, the ark of the covenant or the lampstand.
All these elements also created a contrast between the Lord and his people. He is holy, they’re not. He’s beautiful, they’re not. He’s with them, but they can’t just walk into his presence.
The tabernacle was to display God’s holiness, but his holiness can’t be separated from his love (25:8, 22). In love, he made a way for his unholy people to come near to him. He gave Moses “the way” for this to happen. The pattern was revealed and provided by him. What God required, he also provided (12:35-36).
If sinners like us are going to come back to God, he must make the way and show us the way. The pagans never knew what to give their gods because they didn’t speak. But God told Moses exactly what to do so that he could live with his people.
The tabernacle revealed the holiness of God and sinfulness of Israel, but it also shows us something fundamental about what God is up to in the world. Through Israel, God was bringing his people back into his presence to live under his rule and blessing again.
One scholar says that “the tabernacle sums up the whole divine purpose in redemption.”[3] The Lord told Israel to build him a tent because he wanted to come alongside them, to identify with them in their circumstances. God wanted to go camping with Israel because they were his people and he was their God.
The Lord was married to them through the covenant they’d made, so now he was moving in! And his love was unconditional. Even while he was giving Moses these instructions on Mount Sinai, they were down on the ground rebelling and making the golden calf. He knew what they were doing, but in mercy he kept giving his word to Moses.
What Does God Want Now?
The Lord wanted a tabernacle because he wanted to live with his people. What does he want now? His purposes haven’t changed, from the Garden to Abraham to Israel, God wants to live with his people on the earth.
The tabernacle is a type of the Garden of Eden. But Israel, just like Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. Just as the Fall followed creation, so Israel “falls” after the Lord created them (Ex. 32). Israel, like Adam and Eve, doubted God’s goodness, disobeyed his word, and didn’t want God to be King over them.
God’s law and God’s tent were good gifts to them, but they couldn’t change anyone’s heart. God’s rules were perfect and God’s tent was beautiful, but they couldn’t save God’s people.
Only God could save his people, so in Jesus, God came to do what Adam and Israel could never do. In Jesus, John says, God “tabernacled with us” (Jn. 1:14). In Jesus, the transcendent One became the incarnate One. In the tabernacle, God was with his people, but his presence was out of sight. Jesus, however, is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
In Jesus, God took on the “tent” of human flesh, identifying with us, coming alongside us, even dying for us so that we could live with him again. In Jesus, God came to live with his people.
A New Tabernacle
But the story doesn’t end with Jesus. Everyone who comes to Jesus is united to Jesus and given the Holy Spirit. This means that followers of Jesus are now the new tabernacle or temple. Paul says it this way, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). And again, “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).
The church is the place where God lives with his people. The church is the new tabernacle, the beautiful place where God’s beauty is revealed.
By “place” I mean “people” because God’s tent is now not a material structure but a covenant community. The real beauty of the tabernacle wasn’t the gold or colorful curtains, but the presence of God. This is why David says, “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Ps. 27:4).
As one Old Testament scholar says, “No Israelite ever walks away from (the) tabernacle after a worship experience and says, ‘What a bronze altar!’ or ‘What curtain flaps!’ or “Best incense I’ve ever smelled!’ or ‘Nice turban on the Reverend’s head!’ What they surely say after they exit the gate of the courtyard must be something like ‘What a God! And just think, he invited us into his residence to meet with him!’”[4]
The real beauty of the tabernacle was the holy and gracious God who wanted to live with his people. The beauty of the tabernacle was the beauty of the Lord.
This means that, if the church is the new tabernacle and if the tabernacle is where the beauty of God is revealed, then the church should reveal the beauty of God. Our worship and our life together should reveal the beauty of God.
Paul talks about ordering the church so that, when “an unbeliever or outsider enters” he “declares that God is really among you” (1 Cor. 14:24-25). Since we’re God’s tent, the place where his presence lives, when people come to our church, our worship and our life together should reveal the beauty of God. We don’t want people to come and say, “Oh what beautiful facilities, what great programs, look how many resources, what friendly people!” We want people to say, “Oh what a beautiful God they serve!” Are your actions and attitudes helping or hindering that? Are your words and works making the church more beautiful or more ugly?
What does God want now? He wants to live with his people, with those who’re in his Son, so that they can enjoy his glory and reveal his beauty to an ugly world.
A Final Tabernacle
Just as the tabernacle was an outpost of heaven on earth, so are local churches. Our church is called to reflect and reveal heaven on earth. This is what we work and pray for. And we do so while we wait for the final tabernacle, the New Heavens and New Earth, where God will live with his people on the earth again (Rev. 21-22).
We all long to be in a place where we’re seen and secure, a place where we’re finally free and fully alive. We were made to live in God’s tabernacle. In Jesus, God tabernacled with us, and one day he’ll bring his tabernacle to us. Are you ready to live there with God?
[1]C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 29ff.
[2]J. A. Motyer, The Message of Exodus, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2005), 250.
[3]Ibid., 252.
[4]Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 448.