I was reading through the passage in Exodus (chapters 25-27) this morning where Moses was passing along God’s instructions for the building of His Tabernacle. While I had no clue what most of the building materials that the passage calls for were (shittim wood?) there were certain items (like: gold, scarlet and finely spun) that I readily recognized as being some of the most sought after (and therefore prized) substances of their time. After a moment of contemplation I was overcome with two emotions:
1. I now had an extreme desire to see the tabernacles of old.
2. I was filled with shame because of the physical condition of many of churches today.

Can you imagine how beautiful the Biblical era temples and tabernacles were? The absolute loving adoration that the early Israelites put into their “churches” puts us to shame radiates in their work and puts our modern churches to shame.

Which leads me to my second point (which I will introduce in the form of a question). When our church needs something, like when the microwave goes out, are we more likely to donate “an old one we had laying around or buy a new one specifically for the church? The Israelites had next to nothing, yet each one eagerly gave the very best of their belongings: gold, scarlet, gems…NOT leftovers to supply God’s temple-and as a result it was a magnificent place worthy of our all-powerful God.

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Update 8/2/2013

Recently I attended an in-service at First Pentecostal Church in Little Rock, Ar. This church embodied everything that I imagine a modern tabernacle would. Even the bathrooms were decked out! Here are some pictures of the church:

Women’s Bathroom

Another hallway in the bathroom

My first ever bathroom selfie (I was a little obsessed with the bathroom).

The ceiling in the room where our meeting was held was absolutely stunning.

Time to go to the bathroom again!

This is the “Creme de la Creme”, the sanctuary. Yes, that is gold leaf lettering on the ceiling. This room is so absolutely beautiful that my heart beat faster and jaw dropped (literally) in awe.

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