Exodus 25: 1-9: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”
When King Solomon dedicated the Temple he said, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8: 27) This was precisely true for the Creator of all things is much greater than His creation. However, this great God has chosen to establish a place where His presence can be seen to be among His people. The Lord told Moses to make a sacred place among the people of Israel so that they would be constantly reminded of His presence with them as they travelled. They were in the wilderness because they refused to trust the Lord and feared the giants instead but the Lord still gave them the assurance of His presences. However, the sanctuary that the Lord was making was to be made from voluntary offerings and not from things given under obligation. There are many in the church today who insist that people should give a certain portion of their income but the principle the Lord gave when He established His sanctuary is far more important. Everything that we give back to the Lord should be given willingly and not according to a formula. After all, when these people left Egypt they should have been poverty stricken and in no position to give any voluntary offering. The Lord caused the Egyptians to pay them handsomely for the many years of unpaid work before they left so the wealth they had came entirely from the Lord anyway.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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