Originally posted: 03/17/2019
Constraint: limitation or restriction; something that limits or restricts someone or something; control that limits or restricts someone’s actions or behavior.
Moses has received the perfect pattern for the construction of the tabernacle. Can you imagine the excitement? The LORD God, I Am, has directed His people to build Him a sanctuary. He intends to dwell with them.
He has not left them to themselves in this arduous task. He has laid it all out, provided the pattern with explicit instructions for the place, the Tabernacle, where He would meet with and speak to His people. Renderings for the ark, the mercy seat, the table to hold the bread of the Presence, the lampstand have been stipulated…the thrill is mounting. The details for the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies are given; the anticipation is surely now beyond containment. And now this … curtains. It seems that all access and hope are to be curtained off.
Before one can even get a glimpse of the tabernacle, there would loom His Constraint, a courtyard surrounded by curtains made of fine linen. There would be one gate, only one; a gate to be markedly different from the rest of the curtains comprising the courtyard. And once inside, there would be the altar of bronze.
Consider His Constraint
The Court of the Tabernacle: “You shall make the court of the tabernacle… hangings for the court of fine twisted linen…” (27:9).
The Gate of the Court: “For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen…” (27:16).
The Altar of Bronze: “And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze,” (27:1-2).
How can we respond to His Constraint?
- The Court of the Tabernacle reminds us that our sin separates us from His Holy Presence; our own acts of righteousness will never tear down His Constraint.
- “For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on Your name,
Who arouses himself to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities,” (Isaiah 64:6-7).
- “For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
- The Gate of the Court reminds us there is only one way by which He will remove His Constraint.
- “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it,” (Matthew 7:13-14).
- “I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John 10:9 Berean Study Bible).
- The Altar of Bronze reminds us His Constraint remains unless atonement is made for sin; and this only by the shedding of blood.
- “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement,” (Leviticus 17:11).
- “…and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” (Hebrews 9:22).
May we daily be reminded of the great and horrific price paid to abolish His Constraint: the shed blood of our crucified Savior.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, (Ephesians 1:7).
Oh, let us worship Him in holy fear, sincere gratitude, and intimate surrender. He has removed His Constraint and our condemnation and has set us free to walk in Him; only by the shed blood of Christ Jesus. Thank You, Jesus!
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit,” (Romans 8:1-4).