Follow the pattern - God's pattern

Exodus  25:40 - “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.

When someone builds a house, he follows a pattern known as a "blueprint." When a mother sews a dress for her small daughter, she follows a "dress pattern." And when you bake your lovely cake, you follow a pattern called a "recipe."

When we look at nature, one can very soon discover that everything has a certain order and a certain standard or pattern no matter how complicated the creation maybe. The DNA for example is one of the most complex and intriguing manifestation of all God’s creation. The human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people. The order, or sequence, of these bases determines the information available for building and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain order to form words and sentences. It may look complicated, but the DNA in a cell is really just a pattern made up of four different parts called nucleotides. Complex yet simple. God is the master of order not disorder. 

When God gave the blueprint for Moses to built the tabernacle, he gave a very a specific pattern or plan and God told Moses to make sure that the building was completed according to the pattern. In fact God was so insistent, that he mentioned this important principle to Moses nine times in the scriptures. You can find the specification or a variation of it in the following verses:

Exodus 25:9, Exodus 25:40, Exodus 26:30, 27:8, Exodus 31:11, Exodus 39:32,42,43, Numbers 8:4.

Even when David wanted to built the temple and gave instructions to Solomon, David was particular in following the pattern.

• 1 Chronicle 28:9 - All this,” David said, “I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.”

David instructed Solomon to follow the pattern, God’s pattern.

This goes to show how particular God was in wanting Moses or David to built according to the plan that He had given them. When the tabernacle and the temple eventually was built according to God’s pattern, the “glory of the Lord filled the place”. God’s work must be done in God’s way and in God’s time. No short cuts.

And if you see disorder in the processes, there is a high possibility, God's pattern is either not followed. or compromised 

In the New Testament, Paul tells us that we are the temple of God.

• 1 Corinthians 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?

This temple of ours must be built according to God’s plan. His plan is so clearly revealed in His Word. Any deviation or dilution in following this plan will soon show cracks and eventually crumple. Revelations, dreams and prophecies are good but they cannot be the building block for the development of our lives.

Sola scriptura was the battle cry of the Protestant Reformation and we cannot deviate from this firm foundation, if the glory of the Lord is to be radiant in our lives. 

• 2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

The Bible warms us that we order our lives in accordance with what has been laid down in His Word:

• Obey His pattern - Obey "that form (pattern) of doctrine which was first delivered to you" (Rom. 6:17). To fail to obey His pattern leads to sin and spiritual death (Rom. 6:18-23). 

• Walk by His's pattern – The saints in the Bible, especially the apostles are an "example" or pattern for us to learn from, imitate and walk after (Phil. 3:17; 2 Thess. 3:9).

• Keep His's pattern – Paul instructs us to, "Hold fast the form (pattern) of sound words, which thou hast heard of me. . ." (2 Tim. 1: 13). 

•     Make all things by His's pattern. As Moses was warned to follow the pattern of God in all things, so God warns us in the New Testament ". . . for `See,' sayeth He, `that thou make all things according to the pattern . . ."' (Heb. 8:5). 

Is the glory of God radiant in our lives? If not, we probably need to ask this important question: Has our lives been ordered in accordance with His Word - His pattern?