2.16.26 – The Tabernacle Versus Amalek

On this beautiful day of the week, as we approach the twelfth month of God's prophetic calendar, we shift our focus, as God's wife, to the blueprint for making a home for Him. The house that He wants us to build defies space. It is above space.

Everything is changing drastically. The shift is from God's desire for justice and proper society in creation, and now we are shifting to His request to be let into this world, to come into this world. A different dynamic. The Torah shifts. Everything has been leading up to this point. The foundations of creation, humanity, and the people of Israel had to be worked out. Then we come into the Egyptian servitude, the miracles, the exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the sea, and Mount Sinai—all for one purpose: to build the place for God to dwell; to bring heaven to earth (Ex. 25:8). This was fulfilled in the Tabernacle and ultimately the Temple.

We—speaking of me, myself, and I—too often have taken for granted that God wants to come into our world. He is saying, "I want to be in this world." The Torah takes a sharp turn, and now everything becomes about God's desire to come into this world.

Consider all the descriptions of the Tabernacle and its structure. Even though we know that God taught Moses everything on the mountain (Ex. 25–31), the Torah bothers to record the duplication (Ex. 35–40). It is not about a building, a structure, or an edifice, but a concept: that God wants to be in this world. It is the idea of faith transferred into action—living in a different reality.

We are sliding collectively as the family of man into a dystopian, dysfunctional, bad dream of forces that are keeping people down using fear tactics and other types of social pressure to exact specific political and social agendas. Everything in Exodus is the opposite. It is a war between God and the opposing forces—an eternal war against Amalek.

As we approach the celebration of Purim in the book of Esther, everything is hidden (asther) versus Haman, a descendant of Amalek mentioned 54 times. We have a world where God is hidden so we can have free will. Then God says, "Build Me a tabernacle where I can dwell"—a place to reveal that He is in the world.

In 1 Kings 6–8, when Solomon dedicates the first temple, in his prayer (chapter 8) he says, "Heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house?" (1 Kings 8:27). In our current study, there are some things that Moses heard from God that made him fall backwards and recoil with shock! When God said, "Make Me a sanctuary," Moses thought, "You're mistaken—that's not what You think." But God said, "All I need is twenty boards on the north, twenty on the south, and eight to the west, and I will condense Myself below (Ex. 25:22), and I will meet with you there." Oh my stars!!

When we think about God who has no beginning or end, and we consider our fleeting existence, and how we feel unimportant and inconsequential—how can we serve a God like this? How can we pay homage and honor to a God like this? "I want you to want Me. I don't want the Taj Mahal. That is not what it is about.

"I love you. I love this world. It is the world that I created, and that is what counts. Self-defeating feelings of 'what's the purpose?' and 'life isn't redeemable'—everything will change when I am invited here. If you want Me, I want to give you a way to focus on My presence. Build this thing. All the tribes will surround it. They will be walking as one man, one heart, one focus, and a total revelation to the world." Israel's stay in the desert testifies to how it is possible to be in this world and totally focused on God.

Before the Tabernacle instructions were given to Moses, we have Mishpatim (judgments), where God says, "This is how you treat one another—the lowliest, peer relationships. Celebrate the three festivals, pursue justice." This is the recipe for building the Tabernacle: pursue justice first according to God's instructions among one another.

"Observe these laws. Bring righteousness into your everyday life, and I am ready to bring My presence into your camp."

Everything in our lives is such a test of faith. What we are now learning is God in our midst. Everything within the Tabernacle/Temple is about human endeavor with God's light in the world.

Related to the purpose of the Tabernacle, there is today a goal or campaign on many levels that is anti-faith: get rid of God in the world, desensitize values, cheapen life, cheapen the values that God's Word represents in polishing us and elevating our souls. All the parts of the plot—social unrest, gender confusion, all sorts of subplots—are being woven into a global frontal attack on faith in God. That attack is, not coincidentally, associated with Amalek (Num. 25:17–19). "Remember Amalek and eradicate him from the face of the earth..."

Amalek had a baseless hatred for Israel. In the story of Esther, if you do not wipe out Amalek, they will wipe you out. We do not have to apologize for this. In Exodus 17:7, the people wondered if God was with them. God would commit to erase Amalek (17:14–16). This war is a war against God. Terumah is all about God's desire to be in this world, and Amalek is all about kicking God out of this world.

There are no Amalekites in the world today by ethnic identification, but the mindset is alive and well. How do we fulfill this commandment?

If possible, tell us that our bodies are the tabernacle of God (2 Cor. 5:1–4) and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19–20). We are about to venture into what I consider the most important sections in the entire Bible, which are devoted to the Tabernacle structure and its function—the prototype of our current lives.

I look forward to enjoying the journey with you!

Shalom!
Alan

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