of heavens cannot
contain.

Strange indeed is the contrast between the mountain burning up to
heaven, and the lowly structure of the wood of the desert, which was now
to be erected by subscription.

And yet the change marks not a lower conception of deity, but an
advance, just as the quiet and serene communion of a saint with God is
loftier than the most agitating experience of the convert.

This is the first announcement of a fixed abiding presence of God in the
midst of men, and it is therefore the precursor of much. St. John
certainly alluded to this earliest dwelling of God on earth when he
wrote, "The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us" (John i. 14).
A little later it was said, "Ye also are builded together for an
habitation of God" (Eph. ii. 22); and again the very words used at first
of the tabernacle are applied to faithful souls: "We are a temple of
the living God, as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them" (2
Cor. vi. 16; Lev. xxvi. 11). For God dwelt on earth in the Messiah
hidden by the veil, that is to say His flesh (Heb. x. 20), and also in
the hearts of all the faithful. And a yet fuller communion is to come,
of which the tabernacle in the wilderness was a type, even the descent
of the Holy City, when the true tabernacle of God shall be with men, and
He shall tabernacle with them (Rev. xxi. 3).

It may seem strange that after the commandment "Let them make Me a
sanctuary" the whole chapter is devoted to instructions, not for the
tabernacle but for its furniture. But indeed the four articles
enumerated in this chapter present a wonderfully graphic picture of the
nature and terms of the intercourse of God with man. On one side is His
revelation of righteousness, but righteousness propitiated and become
gracious, and this is symbolised by the ark of the testimony and the
mercy-seat. On the other side the consecration both of secular and
sacred life is typified by the table with bread and wine, and by the
golden candlestick. Except thus, no tabernacle could have been the
dwelling of the Lord, nor ever shall be.

And this is the true reason why the altar of incense is not even
mentioned until a later chapter (xxx.). We do homage to God because He
is present: it is rather the consequence than the condition of His abode
with us.

The first step towards the preparation of a shrine for God on earth is
the enshrining of His will: Moses should therefore make first of all an
ark, wherein