When an exiled sinner who has been thrown out of God’s house and therefore out of fellowship with the Creator, is called by God to come home, the Spirit is sent to recreate and bring them to life by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, this faith and repentance cleanses us and we are declared righteousness and fit to enter God’s presence. The Spirit who indwells us transforms us into the temple of God on earth.

This is part 2 of our series on Building the Covenant Family. To read part one, click here. Instead of obeying the owner and builder of the magnificent dwelling, our forebears rebelled and tried to take ownership. God comes into His garden and finds Adam and Eve hiding. He pronounces curses to Adam that his work will be tough and fruitless. Eve’s childbearing will be extremely painful, the serpent is to crawl on stomach forever and in vs 19: we read the punishment promised if they disobeyed: “By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” and then they are driven out of God’s house, Genesis 3:23-24.

Remarkably, in the middle of this tragic event, God shows his covenant family mercy and gives the gift of grace, 3:15.  Their sin has brought death into God’s house, and everyone born after this is born under the curse of death being “dead in their trespasses and sins”, Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-6.  In the scriptures, death is seen as that which causes defilement and uncleanness.  It is this defilement and uncleanness that is the reason for their and our subsequent expulsion from our Creator’s presence.

Looking further at Genesis 3:15, though Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s house, God being rich in mercy and abundant in grace has provided the “way” back into His house, and from this first proclamation of the gospel until its fulfillment at the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, God is progressively revealing how we may return and dwell with Him in His glorious house.

The end of chapter 3 of Genesis reveals the obstacles we face if we desire to come back home to our Creator on our own works or efforts.  In verses 23-24, we read: “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden(His home) to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden (Interesting to note about the east side is that the door of the tabernacle and the temple both face east, leading many to see the Garden as the first tabernacle or temple, Exodus 27:13-17; Ezekiel 43:4, etc.)  cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” The way back into God’s house is closed and “guarded” by cherubim and a flaming sword. The word “guard” in vs. 24 is the same word that God gave to Adam in chapter 2:15.  So since Adam and Eve didn’t guard His house as they should have, the angels now guard the entrance along with a flaming sword.  These obstacles are impenetrable. It is impossible for sinful man to return home to his God.

Jesus came to accomplish the impossible. Jesus came to bring us (mankind) back home to God. This is Jesus’ point in John 14:6: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, No one comes (enters) unto the Father, except through me.”

There are many similarities to Genesis 3:23-24 in Jesus’ words found in this verse. When you look closer at John 14, you find Jesus telling His disciples he is going away to “prepare” rooms for them, that they may dwell with Him in “[His] Father’s house”.  Like all true disciples of Jesus, the twelve don’t want to live without Him. They are dismayed to hear He is leaving, so Jesus comforts them and tells them that He is constructing new and improved living quarters so they can live and dwell with Him, John 14:1-5.

However, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves and so let us return to the tragic problem that has arisen because of our parents’ (and our) rebellion. The magnificent dwelling that God created in Genesis 1-2 has become defiled and corrupted and fellowship and living with our Holy God is now impossible and the “way” back is guarded by impenetrable security.

From Genesis chapter 4 to chapter 11, we read of mankind being driven further and further from our home with God, Cain in the beginning of chapter four murders Abel so he will not get his birthright and moves further away from God, vs. 19. Lamech’s boast of being a greater murderer than Cain, Genesis 4:23-24, man’s wickedness corrupts everything is described in Genesis 6-9, which leads God to destroy everything except Noah and his family, and finally in chapter 11 we have the tower of Babylon in which mankind tries to build a tower so as to enter God’s dwelling and are exiled throughout the world by the “confusing of the languages”.

The Remedy for the Tragedy

Starting in chapter 12 of Genesis, the way back home starts with God calling a major figure in His plan of redemption and ultimately to bring us home. God calls Abram out of idolatrous Babylon and promises to make him a great nation and give him a land to dwell in.  God tells him that He will accomplish through Abram’s seed, Genesis 15:1-5, c.f. 3:15.  The apostle Paul speaks of this in Galatians 3 and says the “seed” of Abraham that is promised is Jesus in verse 16, and then says all who believe and are given the gift of faith in Him are Abraham’s seed and therefore heirs to the same promises, verse 29!  As we progress through the scriptures from the first promise of a “seed” or “son”, to Abraham’s seed, Isaac, when we get to the book of Exodus, Abraham’s descendants have grown to a great multitude and are enslaved to the “seed” of the serpent, the Egyptians.

God hears their cry and appoints Moses to bring them out.  When Moses comes before Pharaoh to request their release from bondage, in Exodus 4:22 we read these remarkable words, “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” Just as we have seen in Genesis where God is choosing and preserving the “seed” promised in 3:15, in the book of Exodus God is choosing and preserving the promised “seed” by redeeming them from slavery and bringing them to their afore promised inheritance. It is also now in Exodus that God commands Moses and His “son” (being ancient Israel) to construct Him a sanctuary where He can dwell among them and meet with them. He gives them the blueprints to this earthly abode and gives strict instructions to follow the blueprint to the letter, Exodus 25:8-9. This sanctuary is a replica of the real heavenly sanctuary, see Hebrews 8:1ff.

God’s Tabernacle as the Tent of Meeting

What is interesting to note at this point in our discussion is that the writer of Hebrews mentions God’s earthly dwelling in Exodus and says that it is patterned after the Heavenly Tabernacle, Hebrews 8:1-5. So this sanctuary is called the tabernacle and is where God comes to dwell among His people.  Dwelling among His people is not the only purpose or reason for constructing the tabernacle.  As we have seen above, the purpose of God dwelling with His people is to meet and fellowship with them.  This brings us to the next stage of God’s building project. Transforming His dwelling into a house/tent of meeting.

Two words in the OT are important to know to understand the purpose of building a house.  The first word is “michkhan”, which means a dwelling or house. The second is two words put together, “ohel” and “mo’ed”, and is commonly translated “tent of meeting”.

In Exodus, Moses and the people of God are instructed to construct an earthly replica of the Heavenly tabernacle, so that God may dwell in the midst of His people. However, the book of Exodus presents its readers with a major dilemma. While they have the blueprint given to them by the hand of God to Moses, and they construct it accordingly to YHWH’s specifications, in Exodus 33:7, the “tent of meeting” is outside the camp and not in the middle. Furthermore, the book ends by saying that God’s glory enters the tabernacle (dwelling), but not even Moses the mediator could enter to meet with God, “ohel’moed”, Exodus 40:35.  The tabernacle in which God’s glory resided was not approachable!  Makes one think of the end of Genesis 3, and the“way” into God’s house is still guarded.

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