Mishkan - The Dwelling

Thinking of last weeks blog and the difficulty of language translation, here is another Hebrew word to ponder this Christmas season. Mishkan.

We go to God in prayer with many requests, concerns and questions. In the Old Testament the Hebrew people went to the Tent or Tabernacle to pray.

As they wandered around the desert for 40 years they carried this special tent with them. Settling from place to place they set the Tabernacle tent up in the middle of their own camp. Here is the thing, it was not called the Tabernacle, it was called the Mishkan: the dwelling. It referenced the dwelling place of God.

The root word Shakan means to dwell, Mishkan means, the dwelling. The Mishkan was also called The Tent of Meeting: the place where God and man met and dwelt together.

When the Israelites settled in the Promised Land, God instructed them to build an actual stone block building in the city of Jerusalem, it was the Temple. It was a permanent place where God and men could meet.

It was to the Tent of Meeting or the Temple that people would go with their prayers, their praise, their burdens, their questions. They would go fully expecting to meet God there, to sense His presence, it was a meeting place. There were rules for everyone on how to enter and who could enter the Tent or Temple area, only priests could enter the inner most parts. This kept the dwelling place sacred or set apart for Gods purpose's.

How many of us long for a special place to go to where we can dwell with God and sense and feel His presence?

This act of dwelling together from long ago was an action. Prayer was not simply words uttered into the sky hoping someone hears them, it was so much more. It was a action, a union, a dwelling together in one place, the transference of their burden to God. It was an act of hope that God now knows and hears and will act on their behalf.

Today if I asked you about prayer and how to do it probably the main answer would be talking, the reciting words to God. But that is not all that prayer is. Prayer is the whole thing; God and man/women meeting together. It is “meeting together “, I hope you caught that, it is encounter, it is being together, it is an action. God meets man, man meets God, a mind blowing concept for us to consider.

So where do God/man meet today? Where is the Tent of Meeting, the Temple? Where would we go?

1 Corinthians 6:19

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

You, your body is the Temple, The Tabernacle, the Mishkan - the dwelling. Having received Gods Holy Spirit by inviting Him into your life, you are now the dwelling. The very place where you and God get to meet.

Which is why the Christmas story of a very pregnant Mary and Joseph trying to find room in a dwelling to birth Jesus is such an important piece of knowledge. It runs so much deeper than a “no vacancy” sign. The place where Jesus can meet with you, it can be a tent, a stone block building, an inn or hotel, a barn, but in these days, our days, God is asking “does your temple, your heart, have any room?”

The Tent of Meeting was set up in the middle, the central place, of the Israelite camp. Your heart is the central place of your body. Does your heart have any room to accept Gods invitation to dwell with Him? He is asking, He is seeking you.

Prayer, dwelling together and Jesus they make up a fabulous Christmas story … but how did you answer? Is there room for Him in your Mishkan, your dwelling to meet with Him? Are you so busy wrapping, partying, scheduling, decorating that the dwelling has become full, no vacancy.

The very first Christmas was simple, it is who is in the dwelling that matters.

“And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which means: God is with us.” Matthew 1:23

Song: Is There Room In Your Heart by Casting Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQHgI6D2nGg