A Separated Relationship

God’s relationship with the children of Israel, His “wife”, couldn’t be a close and personal one, though. God could not meet with them face to face, or else they would die.

And He said, You are not able to see My face; for no man can see Me and live.
(Exo 33:20 LITV)

But a husband and a wife must dwell with each other in order to stay in relationship with each other. So, in order to dwell with the children of Israel, God required a holy sanctuary to be built.

And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
(Exo 25:8 JPS)

It was called the “tent of meeting” because it was there where God could meet with the children of Israel. The Tent was a temporary home where God could dwell with them in the wilderness until He brought them into the land of Canaan. This is the land that was promised to them through God's covenant with Abraham, where God would establish a permanent home with them.

And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and the Tent shall be sanctified by My glory. And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar; Aaron also and his sons will I sanctify, to minister to Me in the priest's office.
(Exo 29:43-44 JPS)

God commanded the children of Israel to make the Tent in a special way and they were to make "furniture" and special "tools" to be used in the Tent (see Exodus chapters 25-27). Only God’s appointed Priests (Aaron and his sons – the tribe of Levi) could attend to the Tent or "Tabernacle", perform the sacrifices for their sins and atonement, and receive the people’s offerings (see Exodus 29:44, Numbers 18:6). On the Day of Atonement, God's presence would come down upon the most Holy Place of the Tabernacle in the form of a cloud, and God's glory would fill the Tent (see Leviticus 16:2, Exodus 25:22, 40:34). When God’s Spirit was there, only the High Priest could go into the most Holy place of the tabernacle (where the Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat was located - see Leviticus 16:23-24). This only happened once a year (see Leviticus 16:32-34), and it was the closest a man could ever get to God.

The children of Israel had to keep the Ten Commandments and the Law in order to stay pure, consecrated, sanctified, and holy before God (see Leviticus 11:45). This “formal” union required tedious and meticulous sacrifices and offerings to cover the sins of the children of Israel. The children of Israel became tired of following all of God's rules, so Israel became a disobedient wife. Israel then began to commit adultery with foreign gods and broke her covenant with God, her Husband. She left Him, even after He brought her into the Promised Land and built a permanent home for them in Jerusalem.

The LORD told me to go to Jerusalem and tell everyone that he had said: When you were my young bride, you loved me and followed me through the barren desert. You belonged to me alone, like the first part of the harvest, and I severely punished those who mistreated you. Listen, people of Israel, and I, the LORD, will speak. I was never unfair to your ancestors, but they left me and became worthless by following worthless idols. Your ancestors refused to ask for my help, though I had rescued them from Egypt and led them through a treacherous, barren desert, where no one lives or dares to travel. I brought you here to my land, where food is abundant, but you made my land filthy with your sins.
(Jer 2:1-7 CEV)

Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
(Jer 3:20-22 KJV)

God deeply loved the children of Israel, and he graciously renewed His covenant with them over and over again when they returned to Him, but the continual sin in their lives kept them distant from Him. That is why God sent His Son, Jesus, to cover their sins and the sins of all who would believe in Him once and for all so that mankind could be close to Him again. Jesus, who is God in the flesh, is the Husband we can have a close, personal relationship with!

God wanted all mankind to see His face and be able to walk in the Garden with Him again (see Revelation 22:1-5), just like He did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. Jesus came to this earth so that all people could relate to God "face to face".

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
(2Co 4:6 ISV)

It is Jesus who can personally fill our hearts with God's light and glory! It is Jesus who we can get close to, who removes the barrier of sin. It is Jesus who died for us so that we could live forever with Him.

(Review previous blog entry - "Why should we keep the commandments of Jesus?")

Married in the Wilderness

In Egypt, after the death of Joseph, the children of Israel became slaves to the Egyptians. The new king forced them into hard bondage in order to keep them in submission to him. They were oppressed and were filled with sorrow and pain, so they cried out to God to deliver them from their captivity. God heard their cries and felt compassion for them. That is when God called Moses to lead them out of Egypt and into the wilderness where He would redeem them and take them as His own people.

And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
(Exo 3:7 KJV)

Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
(Exo 3:10 KJV)

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
(Exo 6:6-7 KJV)

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
(Exo 5:1 KJV)

God sent ten plagues on Egypt before Pharaoh finally let them go. Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt by the presence of God in a cloud, and into the wilderness by God's Power through the parting of the Red Sea.

GOD went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way, and at night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light; thus they could travel both day and night. The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people.
(Exo 13:21-22 MSG)

“Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.”
(Exo 14:16 MSG)

“And because He loved your fathers, and chose their seed after them, and brought you out with His presence, with His great power, out of Egypt,”
(Deu 4:37 LITV)

“For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea,”
(1Co 10:1 ISV)

In the third month of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai. And they pulled up stakes from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai. And they camped in the wilderness. And Israel camped there before the mountain.
(Exo 19:1-2 LITV)

At the mountain in the wilderness, God made a union by covenant between Himself and the children of Israel. Exodus chapters 19 and 24 explain how Moses recited to the children of Israel the words that God had given to Him, which he had written in the Book of the Covenant (Ten Commandments and the Law). Then, the children of Israel agreed to accept God's Covenant. God had vowed to love, treasure, protect, heal, and provide for them (Groom says "I do" – see Exodus 19:5-6, Deuteronomy 7:6-24). United together, the children of Israel vowed to love, honor, and obey God and His Word (bride says "I do" – see Exodus 24:3, Exodus 19:7). So, here is the “bride” vowing to love, honor, and obey, and here is the “Groom” vowing to cherish, protect, and provide for His bride, giving her His name and all that He has.

Then the covenant was sealed with a sacrifice of blood at the mountain of God (see Exodus 24:8). The children of Israel became a “wife” and God Himself became their “Husband”. It was a formal and legally binding commitment, just like a legal marriage. God did this in order to preserve a people for Himself in this sinful world.

For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of all the earth.
(Isa 54:5 LITV)