Chapter 19 — THE SANCTUARY
The sanctuary was built as God commanded it to should be built. God chose certain men and blessed them with more than natural skills so they might do good work in building the sanctuary.SRme 1.638
Moses and the workers did not plan the sanctuary. God Himself made the plan and gave it to Moses. God gave special directions as to the size, form, and materials to be used. God also told Moses exactly what furniture was to be in the sanctuary.SRme 1.639
The Lord showed Moses a small model of the heavenly sanctuary. God told Moses to make everything in the sanctuary exactly the same as the model He showed him on Mount Sinai. Moses wrote all the directions in a book and read the directions to the most important leaders.SRme 1.640
The Lord instructed Moses to tell the people to bring freewill offerings to build the sanctuary, so He could live among them. In response, "Everyone who wished to do so brought an offering to the Lord for making the Tent of the Lord's presence. They brought everything needed for use in worship and for making the priestly garments. Everyone who wanted to, both men and women, brought decorative pins, earrings, rings, necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry and dedicated them to the Lord" (Ex 35:21, 22).SRme 1.641
Great and expensive preparations were made for building the sanctuary. Precious and costly materials were collected. But the Lord accepted only the offerings given freely and gladly. God wanted His people to love His work and to make a sacrifice from their hearts when they prepared a place for God.SRme 1.642
The building of the sanctuary began, and the people kept bringing their gifts to Moses. When Moses showed the gifts to the leading workmen, they decided the people had brought more than they could use.SRme 1.643
"So Moses sent a command throughout the camp that no one was to make any further contribution for the sacred Tent; so the people did not bring any more. What had already been brought was more than enough to finish all the work" (Ex 36:6, 7).SRme 1.644