Don't Just Do Something, Stand There: Open Them Doors!

There is a ton of contrast in 1 Samuel 3. One of my new favorites is the light in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was designed that the room where the ark was would be completely sealed off- it would be dark. It was meant to be dark, with only a small lamp to light the room. This was the lamp of God that was going out. That lamp was a symbol- Israel's faith was about to go out and it would be replaced by total darkness. It was on the eve of the end that Samuel went to sleep in the Holy of Holies (or the Holiest Place). But while sleeping, Samuel is called by God and everything begins to change. A new day is born, and hope has been reborn. And so Samuel throws the doors open to the tabernacle, flooding it with light.


The opening of the doors has a couple meanings. The first meaning is that light has now re-entered the tabernacle. God has "come back" in a pretty big way.

But the other meaning, the one that tugs at my heart, is that now the Word of God can explode out and into the world like a rushing wind. It calls to mind this prophecy of Isaiah 2:
In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The light is meant to go out. The Word is meant to travel. God's presence is for the sake of the world. It is not contained in cathedrals or house churches, chapels or coffee shops. The light is meant for every dark place, beyond the comfortable and into the tragic, beyond the easy and into the complicated, beyond the safe and into the adventure. You are the tabernacle now. The Kingdom of God is in you now. Open them doors, and unleash a wild and crazy Kingdom of God on the world.