MEDITATIONS
FROM ISAIAH
February 22,
2006
Reading: Isaiah 4:1-6
“And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime
from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from
ruin” Isa 4:6.
Surely, my soul, this Tabernacle is none other than your Jesus—your Christ, Savior and Redeemer. Is He not all of this to you as you learn to take refuge in Him from all that the world, flesh and devil throws at you? Not only is He the Sacrifice, Mercy Seat and High Priest, He is the entire Tabernacle and everything it represents in the Old Testament.
The tabernacle was the place of sacrifice and of forgiveness—is it not so with Jesus? It was the place of communion with God—a glorious honor and benefit Jesus provides for His people, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The mercy seat was a perpetual reminder that God withholds His judgment from those who are hidden in Christ. Truly, He is our Tabernacle in every sense of the word.
Another wonderful analogy is that the Tabernacle was transitory—it moved wherever God’s people went. How this reminds you of the wonderful promise of Jesus, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” There is never a time or incident when Jesus is apart from His people. He does not leave us even when we feel He has. He is the faithful One and is always there to meet our every need at anytime.
But, you ask, what about at the “end of the age?” Then, my soul, there is no need for a Tabernacle that is transitory in nature, for then that same Jesus will be our Temple, permanent but still representative of all Jesus had accomplished and finalized on behalf of His people, His church and Bride.
“But
Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and
more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation” Heb
9:11-12.
“But
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple”