Sunday: The Tent of Meeting
Daily Lesson for Sunday 14th of September 2025
Read Exodus 33:7-11. Why did God ask Moses to build the tent of meeting?
We must not confuse “the tent of meeting” (built outside of Israel’s camp) with the tabernacle, which was later constructed and located in the center of the camp. We do not know how often Moses consulted with God in the tent of meeting.
Image © The Classic Bible Art Collection – Formerly Standard Publishing at Goodsalt.com
However, one thing we know for sure: Moses’ encounters with God resulted in a close friendship between them. “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11, NKJV). A friend is a person we can consult and openly discuss most everything with and trust that he or she will never reveal it to others. A friend is one of the nicest things to have and one of the nicest persons to be.
As recorded in Exodus 19:1-25; Exodus 20:1-26; Exodus 21:1-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-33; Exodus 24:1-18; Exodus 25:1-40; Exodus 26:1-37; Exodus 27:1-21; Exodus 28:1-43; Exodus 29:1-46; Exodus 30:1-38; Exodus 31:1-18; Exodus 32:1-35; Exodus 33:1-23; Exodus 34:1-35, the story of Moses is very instructive of how God transforms our lives. How did God build a relationship with this outstanding leader? A study of the life of Moses shows how he grew in his knowledge, not only of God’s power but of His love and character. This is a crucial component of having a relationship with God.
Prior to arriving at Mount Sinai, Moses was mightily used by God even while being prepared for a special leadership role. In the land of Midian, while taking care of sheep, God inspired him to write two books: Job and Genesis. Then, in the dramatic event of the burning bush, he was called by God to lead Israel out of Egypt. He saw the defeat of the Egyptian gods and the mighty Egyptian army in the Red Sea. He observed for many weeks how God led Israel from Egypt to Sinai. After the experience resulted in his shining face, he led Israel for another 39 years, to the brink of the Promised Land. The biblical message states that Moses was a faithful servant of God (Deuteronomy 34:5, Joshua 1:1), an unimpaired light in the darkness, a model prophet by whom others would be measured (Deuteronomy 18:15,18). He was an agent of change, even though the people did not always follow his directions and words. When they did, they prospered.
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We may learn from Moses because his exceptional life story tells us what God can do when we let Him change us. What were some turning points in your walk with God, where you recognized how He worked powerfully in your life? |
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I am always a bit shy of people who are business or political leaders. We live in different worlds. A few months ago, our local U3A organised a visit to the NSW Parliament House as guests of our Member of Parliament. He is a "big shot". Not only is he our MP, he is also the Speaker of the House and is essentially the CEO for the business of running the state of NSW. We were met by him at the door, and taken on a tour of the building - which is a fascinating story in itself. We watched a session of Question Time, which he supervised with both charm and authority, even kicking out an MP who did not obey the rules, He took us to lunch in the Members Dining Room at his expense. Then he took us to the Speaker's rooms and gardens.
During the course of this visit, I had a conversation with him about the Ospreys nesting on the shores of Lake Macquarie and found that he lives not far from one of the active nests and was a keen observer of their behaviour. Suddenly, this man of power and authority was my friend. We shared common interests.
In our spiritual lives, God wants us to get to know him and find out that he is our friend and is on our side. The Hebrews were used to gods who had to be appeased and it was going to take some time for them to get used to that idea. Moses set the example with his meeting with God, but we know that passing that message on to the people proved difficult.
For us, the message is that God is easy to meet with us, and just in case you think that going to church on a sanctified day for a couple of hours once a week is enough, that is not what God intended. He loves us enough to meet with us often.
The Psalmist says:
God can meet His people anywhere because He is Omnipresent, but He designates specific places for meeting them, for instance, the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, and the temple. These were places for divine encounters. The physical places signified God's presence and hence continued assurance that God was with the people. Even though the Israelites had sinned by making a golden calf as their god, the tent of the meeting was God’s assurance that He was still with them. This was a foreshadowing of the tabernacle and teaching them the principle of “God dwelling among His people”. Also, God wanted to confirm that Moses was the mediator between Him and the people. God spoke with Moses “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exod.311:11), clearly highlighting Moses’s unique role.
Even for us today, it is a good practice to have a “special “, specific place for “divine encounters”. The Bible affirms and actively encourages a personal designated place of communion with God. God often meets people at “sacred places” that they put aside to meet Him. Daniel had an upstairs room as his “sacred place” to meet with God. “He went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed”(Daniel 6:10).
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”(Luke 5:16). He sought secluded places for a personal and passionate communion with His Father. When Jacob had an encounter with God, he marked the place as a sacred spot. ( “He called that place Bethel… Surely the Lord is in this place… this is the house of God.” (Genesis 28:16–19). I have my “sacred spot” too! I have a secluded “special bench” at the park where I normally go whenever I want to commune with God in a very personal and passionate manner. Particularly when the cares of this life seem to overwhelm me.
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?... If I rise on the wings of the dawn… even there your hand will guide me.” (Psalm 139:7–10).
Yes, God is everywhere, yet He will come down to meet us at our personal “sacred places”
The tent of meeting became Moses’ solution for balancing his leadership responsibilities with his desperate need for God’s presence. “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp” (Exodus 33:7). In that sacred place, the cloud of God’s glory would descend, and the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). This meeting place became a reminder that true direction came not from Moses’ leadership skills but from God Himself.
In the same way, throughout history, God has raised up seasons of renewal when His people rediscovered the power of meeting with Him. During the Presbyterian revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries, gatherings for prayer and worship became their “tent of meeting.” Believers stepped away from the noise of daily life to encounter God’s Spirit afresh. Much like Moses and the Israelites, the Church found that the strength to lead, endure, and flourish came only from time spent in the presence of the Living God.
Once again, God and Moses have this unique tête-à-tête.
But let's step back a little; the events of the golden calf still had scars on the relationship between God and Israel. Even after Israel was plagued (Exodus 32:35), the people were still "stiff-necked". God could no longer dwell with them "in their midst" because they were tainted with sin.
.... and Once again, God and Moses have this unique tête-à-tête. As Moses leaves the camp to set up the tabernacle of meeting, the closeness and friendship are even more profoundly explained in this chapter. Though Moses was not sinless, God still draws His presence near Moses. Beautiful! Really beautiful!
On the other hand, there is Israel. God still keeps to the promise of Abraham, desiring Israel to leave and go towards the Promised Land. God further offers to clear the ground of the Canaanites ahead of Israel's arrival, but God will not be in their midst. All because of their betrayal and disobedience, God's presence could not be with them. In fact, with sin, God's glory would destroy Israel.
What shouts out in this story? I see four things:
1. God always sticks to His promises:Israel is still under the protection of God's promise to Abraham, though not fully experiencing His grace.
2. God keeps off His presence to save Israel: God's glory cannot tolerate sin and rebellion. His presence would consume sin. Yet, while withholding His presence from the midst of Israel, God's mercy compensates. Though His grace is lowered, His mercy abounds toward Israel.
3. God resonates with those who walk His walk: "face to face, as a friend." God brings His presence closer to those who accept Him, believe in Him, and serve Him with great zeal. Moses may not have been perfect or holy, but he purposed to walk in God's footsteps, not looking right or left – he soldiered on, keeping God's voice next to his ear.
4. Inside our selflessness, God brings His presence: Despite all the favor Moses had from God, his plea was still for God to go with Israel. Moses loved God's presence around him, but he wanted Israel in the place with Him. Such love draws God closer.
If we can make a silent prayer in our hearts to walk God's walk, so that He just draws near, what a wonderful moment that would be.
There were many situations when I clearly recognized God's power in my life. However, there were three major turning points; always challenging, always tricky. After I've done all my best, after all the self-efforts were exhausted, He came in and openly showed how much better His solution was!
- When His answer does not come right away, we should have patience, because He never fails!
Moses hadn't turned away from God's presence during the Golden Calf incident. In fact just the opposite, he had been in deep communion with God on the mountain for 40 days and nights. And yet, what really resonates with me in today's Bible reading is that this whole episode of Israel's apostasy really personally impacted Moses and moved him into an even deeper relationship with God himself.
To review, Israel's heart had turned away from God to a dramatic, externally-visible extent. This led Moses to, at least twice (and more later on), intercede with God for them and put himself on the eternal-life chopping block if it could mean their salvation. Moses had smashed the 10 Words tablets in a moment of righteous indignation, then smashed the gold calf, ground it to powder and made them drink it. Moses had made a call to repentance and then a call to God's judgment: the destruction by the sword of 3,000 who were already spiritually dead. In other words, Moses was expending LOTS of physical and spiritual energy because of the choices of God's people. Moses was 1000% in this with God's people. In Ex. 33:1-6 God tells Moses, "Go on to the Promised Land without me." Moses relays this back to the people. The people respond with devotion and a subdued spirit, stripping themselves further of their earring idols and self-ornamentation.
And now, now while the people are humbling themselves, in Ex. 33:7-11 Moses takes the next step PERSONALLY towards revival and restored relationship with God. Moses wasn't taking the stance "those people, they're a mess, good thing I'm tight with You, Lord"....oh no, no. Instead, Moses felt deeply moved when the people stood in attention to God and he HIMSELF determined to have a deeper relationship with God as a result of all that has happened. Spontaneously, it seems, and radically, Moses moved HIS OWN TENT to a sacred spot away from distraction and set it up as a place to seek God's Face, for himself and for His People. This was not the Tabernacle of Meeting that God had instructed him about in Exodus 25-28. No, this was a gift of Moses' heart, Moses' own personal dwelling place...because he couldn't wait for the Tabernacle to be built...he needed God now!
And look what happened. Because Moses had dedicated himself to God personally and made his own abode a place where he and others could meet God, he prompted deeper worship from the whole assembly! Every time Moses worshiped and met with God, the people wanted to worship too...they all stood and watched with baited breath for God to appear to meet with Moses. Anyone who really wanted to draw close to God could go to this sacred place known as the life of Moses ("Don't you know that YOU are the temple of God?" 1 Cor. 3:16)...could go to Moses' tent. This impacted young Joshua so much that it says "he did not depart from the tabernacle" (Ex. 33:11) ....Joshua wanted to dwell there in constant communication and fellowship with God forever (Ps.23:6; Ps. 27:4)!
Just wow, this is all so moving to me! Is my personal life a sacred space where others meet and see God visibly, and find restored relationship with their Savior? Does the pillar of God's presence - like the flag of a royal monarch - hover over me as I am in constant communication with Him, seeking His face more than anyone and anything, even my own physical needs (Ex.34:28)...and does the obvious presence of God with me provide a comfort and encouragement to all? Am I so emptied of self that God can speak to me plainly and openly and freely as one can with a friend? Am I so identified with God's people that what I painfully witness as self-seeking, self-depending apostasy prompts me into heartfelt intercessory prayer and a deeper repentance and deeper dependence upon Jesus in my own self?
Wow Esther! Powerful. Please come and visit our little Sabbath School again in Freeport.
Thank you…. I enjoyed the Freeport Sabbath School discussion very much!… I’m usually leading SS in Lewiston , and when I have a week off, I look forward to visiting and sharing Bible Study with you again!
To answer today’s question, I can think of only one turning point. Its impact engendered all the blessings coming into my life from then on. It is the decision to follow Jesus. It sounds simple, though it represents literally the most life-changing 'turning-point' as my relationship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, became personal.
I already had a close relationship with my heavenly Father, but His Way of Life was revealed when I chose to follow His Son Jesus - experiencing life in a totally new way – His Way. All desires to live life ‘my’ way fell away, only His Way remained. He poured out His Love into my heart - enabling me to love Him in return –, longing to be taught and guided by our God who offers to experience True Life - John 10:9-11.
By God's Mercy and Grace, I fully, unreservedly, opened the door to my heart and mind, inviting God’s Holy Spirit to rebirth me – to restore the Joy of His Salvation -; enabling me to love Him and the life I live in the Kingdom of God – Psalm 51:12; John 3:3.
There are parallels between a lover’s meeting place and our meeting place with God?
Lovers often choose a special spot—a park bench, a quiet café, a familiar corner—where they can focus on one another. It’s more than a location; it’s a sanctuary of intimacy.
The same is true with God. In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle was called the “Tent of Meeting,” a place where He intentionally met with His people. Today, we too can set aside special places to draw near to Him.
Three lessons stand out:
1. Intentionality – Like lovers, we must choose to make time and space for God.
2. Privacy – Jesus reminds us to pray in secret (Matthew 6:6), where we can be fully open before Him.
3. Symbolism – Just as a park bench holds memories, our “meeting place” with God becomes a symbol of answered prayers and His abiding presence.
A meeting place—whether with a person or with God—is more than geography. It’s a testament of love and commitment, a sanctuary where relationships deepen and flourish.
The Tent of Meeting is the word of God. If we dwell on the word of God,we will have that close bond or relationship with God