So I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

Exodus 29:44-46

In Exodus 27-30, God describes the tabernacle to Moses and details the specifications for it. Moses is to then instruct the people to build it.

What I really find amazing is God’s desire to dwell among people. He’s God of the universe. He created all things and the one place He really wants to be is with His people.

Since the beginning, when God made Adam and Eve, God walked in the garden with them (Genesis 3:8). In Exodus 29, we read how God is building a dwelling among the Israelites so He could be with His people. Centuries later, God comes down as Jesus and lives among us as a human (John 1:14) .

Today , for those that believe and choose to follow Jesus, God dwells in their hearts. (1 Corinthians 3:16). After we die, there will be a time when Jesus comes back and resurrects us, and for those that believe, will spend an eternity with God. Exodus 29:44-46 is just a glimpse of the things to come.

But before God could dwell in the tabernacle, He had to consecrate the Aaron, his sons, the tabernacle, and the people from sin. This is because God is Holy. Holy means to be set apart and pure. God is Holy because there is nothing else like God and he is perfection. Sin is defiance against God and thus, God can not have sin in his presence. The price of sin is death.

Back before Jesus’ time, animals were sacrificed to symbolize how God would remove sin through Jesus. When Jesus came, He died on the cross as the sacrifice for all humanity. Today, when we accept and believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins and choose to follow Jesus, we become consecrated.

God goes through all this trouble, even dying on the cross for us, just so He can be with us. Isn’t it amazing how much He loves us?

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

Zechariah 2:10-11