Stephen, back from a caravanning holiday in Cornwall, was keen to tell us all about the spiritual blessings of the ‘caravan of life’. He spoke about the tabernacle (‘a fixed or movable dwelling of light construction’), which God commanded Moses to build during the wilderness years (see Ex 25 & 26) This portable sanctuary housed the ark of the covenant, and God gave very specific instructions about who could serve in the tabernacle and how they could approach God. The tabernacle was effectively the ‘home’ of God’s presence and certainly the holiness of God meant that the only way to approach Him was with reverence and with sacrifices (barbecues have always been popular, it seems!)
The rules and regulations governing the tabernacle (cleansing rituals, sacrifices, boundaries determining who could go where, with the High Priest only allowed into the Holy of Holies once a year, on the Day of Atonement) show us how sin spoiled the intimate relationship God and man shared in the Garden of Eden, and how God wanted a restoration of that intimate relatioship. Jn 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling (literally ‘tabernacled’) among us. Jesus shows us how much God wants to dwell with His people and HIs sacrifice (see Hebrews 9) reflects the revolutionary truth that God actually wants to live in us. Eph 2:22 reminds us that in Christ we are being built together to become a dwelling-place in which God lives by His Spirit. Effectively, we are now God’s tent, God’s movable dwelling place!
We may ask ourselves why God has done this. God wants an intimate relationship with us and effectively wanted to ‘move in’ with His people – He is among us, in us and lives through us. Now, we no longer have to face segregation or make sacrifices. We can know Christ personally, accept His Spirit in us and can be happy campers indeed!