“According to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, so you shall construct it.” (Exo 25:9, NASB)

The eyes of the heart open in love. Love is the power of the perspective that brings favor. In Hebrew this is expressed as “finding favor in the eyes of another”. The first expression of this that we see in the scriptures is with respect to God’s agent of salvation, Noah.

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Gen 6:8, NASB). Let’s back up a step and see what was going on at this time in the revelation of God.

“Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the LORD was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”” (Gen 6:1-7, NASB)

This is a pretty dire situation. Men had devolved into evil beings with evil imaginations in their hearts. This is defined as wickedness. The Ancient Hebrew word for wickedness is Rah.

Resh (ר): Originally pictured as a man’s head, meaning highest, person, or chief.

Ayin (ע):  Originally pictured as an eye, meaning to see, watch, or know—or an original pictograph representing something twisted or dark.

The Pictographic Story: A person (resh) associated with a distorted or dark perspective/action (ayin/ghah), implying that wickedness is a twisted output or a spoiled seed manifested in human behavior.

The use of this word tells us that what was twisted was how man saw the world and specifically who God is. Now, we remember that man was created in the image and likeness of God. So, when man “saw” God through the evil eye, then man became what he or she saw.

Yeshua spoke about this impact when He said:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mat 6:21-24, NKJV)

Why did He connect darkness of vision to treasure? Treasure is a summary word for the value system that a person relies on. We are used to dollars and bank accounts. But in biblical times, treasure could be anything  a person produced. Treasure production often defined identity. We still speak of identity this way. A doctor, a lawyer, a bookkeeper. Often we mix financial efforts with identity. When we do this the tendency is to collapse the power source in our lives into ourselves. We become our own source of light or power. This is called darkness. We can reflect light like the moon and the more we face the light the more it is reflected in and through us. BUT we also can lose sight of the light and try to be our own light and that is the path to darkness.

This is why Paul said: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Col 3:23-24, NKJV)

Going back to Noah. Men had turned completely to darkness. There was no God in their thinking or doing. Let’s re-read the verses:

“Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the LORD was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”” (Gen 6:1-7, NASB)

The first thing we see mentioned is taking of the daughters of mankind by the “sons of God”. Now there is a lot of controversy over who these sons of God were. I personally think that if they were the offspring of Adam and Eve, they would have been called sons of man. Even Yeshua who was clearly the Son of God, called Himself the son of man, indicating the physical form He came from. This term is used over 80 times.

Calling these beings sons of God, I think points to their origin as angelic fallen beings. What they did was so evil that God responded by limiting lifespan for man to 120 years. Their children were the Nephilim, which means literally fallen ones. They were of angelic lineage and so they were huge and powerful which led to a perspective that power comes from size and strength. This perversion of mankind caused God to repent that He had made man. Wow!

But in the midst of this there was one man who found favor in the eyes of the Lord, Noah. This man’s eyes were open to the Lord and the Lord’s eyes were open to Noah. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This implies a face to face encounter. God reveals Himself and Noah reveals himself. This face to face revelation is called covenant.

“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.” (Gen 6:18, NKJV)

The ark was the mechanism of protection from the flood but it was also the establishing of covenant. Imagine if you will the marriage ceremony and God is looking with an unveiled face unto Noah and His family. What is occurring in the spirit realm is they are coming into oneness, or into the declaration of “yes”. Think of the marriage vows and the response of I do as the act of declaring oneness, the yes of God.

Why is this important? Because to see in the Spirit realm we need to be one or in the place of the yes of God.

The physical expression of this is the tabernacle. The tabernacle was first constructed by Israel in the wilderness as the meeting place with God. In Noah’s case the ark was the tabernacle. The Hebrew word for the tabernacle is mishkan. It is the place where the priest would commune with the Lord.

“They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.” (Exo 28:43, NKJV)

Paleo-Hebrew Significance

In the ancient Paleo-Hebrew script (used during the time of the Exodus and early monarchy), letters were pictographs carrying concrete physical meanings:

Mem (מ): Originally drawn as flowing water or waves, representing chaos, mass, or a mighty source.

Shin (ש): Drawn as two front teeth, signifying consumption, pressure, or destruction.

Kaf (כ): Drawn as an open palm, meaning to bend, curve, or allow to rest.

Nun (נ): Drawn as a seed or sprouting fish, signifying life, heir, or continuation. [1, 2]

Together, the pictographic story embedded within the spelling of Mishkan points conceptually to the "place where the life-source (mem/nun) rests permanently in a sheltering structure (shin/kaf)," representing the divine presence actively abiding among the people.

Another important perspective is that the mishkan contains the ken or the yes. The priests are known as the Cohen which also contains the yes. The importance of this is that when we want o have heaven’s perspective we have to surrender to the yes of God. This is the power of agreement, or oneness.

We could of course deeply look at the actual construction of the tabernacle and gain a lot of wisdom. But for this chapter I just want to emphasize the perspective of the yes. Saying yes to God is coming into oneness, the place of the love covenant. It is the “I do” of deep love.

Establishing a tabernacle in our lives, the role of ceremony. While ceremony is not a replacement for intimacy, it is the recognition of the importance of treasures of the heart. One of the potential doorways of darkness and death in our love walk with the Lord is commonness. Commonness is the place of casual relationship, the superficiality of the everyday. Many want the friendship of the Lord without the holiness and reverence. The tabernacle is the reminder of holiness. It is only through holiness that we experience true intimacy. What I protect I treasure. Holiness is our determination to honor and protect our relationship with God.

Activation: Establish a tabernacle in your home. Where can the yes of God be treasured and protected?