Some Thoughts About the Tabernacle

29 Jan

Exodus 25-31 describes the instructions God gave Moses about the building, accessories, and maintenance of the Tabernacle. Moses was told to request willing sacrifices of the people with which to make a dwelling place for God among them: “And this is the offering which you shall take of them: gold, silver, and brass; blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen; goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins; shittim wood; oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.” Where did all these exotic and costly items come from? When the People of Israel left Egypt, their Egyptian masters gladly gave them as requested. They were just as glad to be rid of the plagues that had accompanied Pharoah’s repeated refusal to let the Hebrews go.

God told Moses that the construction of everything involved, from the structure itself down to the oil for light and the holy anointing ointment, would be built by Spirit-filled artisans who were highly skilled in their craft (Ex. 28:3, 31:3, 35:21, 31). That means that, while the building was done with human hands, it was God-designed and God-directed in every detail. The colorful and gold overlaid environment of worship, as well as the forms of worship, came from the heart of God and the Israelites were called to join Him there.

The Tabernacle was a prototype for the Temple that was later built by King Solomon in Jerusalem. It was a two-room structure, consisting of a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies, surrounded by an enclosed courtyard. The Ark of the Covenant resided in the Holy of Holies. On top of the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat where, God said, “…there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony…” (Ex. 25:22).

The Holy of Holies in the Temple was also off-limits to anyone but the High Priest who was allowed to go in but once a year. When Jesus Christ died on the Cross, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place in the Temple tore from the top to the bottom signifying that the pattern of sacrifices in that place was no longer needed because the final sacrifice to end all sacrifices had come. Access to God was no longer restricted to that place. Instead, we have access to God privately, permanently, and at all times. Jesus Christ, our high Priest, now takes us into God’s presence with Him: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24) and “God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 4-6).

In John 4:23-24, Jesus projected the coming post-crucifixion change in worship from the public sacrifices and worship in the Temple (Old Testament worship) to the private communion with God through Christ that occurs in the hearts of Believers: “But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Elsewhere the Spirit is also identified as Truth: “And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6b). So it is the Holy Spirit member of the Trinity who “Tabernacles” with us in the God-created space of our spirit where He meets us, just as He did on the Mercy Seat of the Ark in the Holy of Holies that was the heart (center) of both the Tabernacle and the Temple. As it was in the physical renditions of the place where God met the Israelites, so it is the presence of God that makes our meeting place with Him a Holy place. He is the Comforter and Helper promised by Jesus in John 15:26.

This is not to discount corporate worship (Heb. 10:24-25), however, which must come from hearts that are in the habit of private worship. Furthermore, our part is not only to worship where God meets us, but also to be ready in repentant holiness, whether in private or public worship, to bring to His presence the unsullied cloak of righteousness placed on us by Jesus Christ when we accepted His gift of salvation.