January 29 A Patterned Sanctuary

Exodus 25:8-9 Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

I love the book of John, and I am so glad that when I was young, I memorized so much of it. This passage reminded me immediately of John 14 and 15 where Christ says this in 14:17, “Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth with you.”…then verse 23 gives me such comfort, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.”


Today we don’t have to go to any building, regardless of how beautiful to enjoy the presence of God. We, as believers, carry him around with us every moment. I began this entry early this morning and have been thinking about it all day, thinking about it as I went about my Saturday chores, thinking about where I was taking him, thinking about what kind of a sanctuary I was.

Smith brought up the specific instructions God gave for the Old Testament sanctuary, and it must have been a beautiful environment designed to please the eye and the soul and to draw one’s thoughts to something greater than, just greater than anything they otherwise experienced. Through history, the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Churches all were glorious places of worship, intentionally designed to draw the eye upward in worship and awareness of God.

I wrote a poem once about a visit to St. Patrick’s in New York I sat there, quiet within and I wanted to worship. I wrote that I wanted to genuflect and didn’t even know how, but it seemed appropriate to give God some sign that I appreciated him and his work.

So back to the sanctuary within: I wonder whether it is that same kind of place, where someone would be compelled to worship God, if they could go there. And I wonder about all that I have stored within, all that I have watched, listened to and read, how it has decorated that sanctuary. I wonder just how closely I have followed his instructions.