The Blueprint Of A Dwelling Place For God Series

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness # 1

The Blueprint of a Dwelling Place for God

By Pastor Jim May

Exodus 25:8-9, "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."

Never before had a people been so privileged and blessed as the nation of Israel was by Almighty God. Since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, mankind had not enjoyed the presence of God in an intimate manner. Even though God did move upon those who searched after Him and desired to know Him, He never had a people that He could call His own. Satan had laid claim to all that God had created through the power of sin. But God, in His great mercy and love, would not allow Satan’s victory to stand forever. God had a plan that was already in motion before man fell. It was a plan to reveal His love and His character to mankind and give man a second chance to commune with God.

How was this plan to begin? If you see that someone is doing something very dangerous, what is the first thing that you will do? You will warn them of the danger, let them see what you see, and then attempt to show them a way out of that danger. That’s what God decided to do when He set His plan for redemption into motion.

When you read through the Book of Exodus, you will find that God gave three very important things to through Moses that gave Israel the beginnings of God’s plan.

First, He had to show them what it meant to be holy, and to show them where they had already missed the mark and were an unworthy people, worthy only of death and judgment. He did this by giving them the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are not suggestions on how to live a good life. They are God’s Perfect Law and must be obeyed fully before man could claim holiness. Of course the Law was only a Schoolmaster, a teacher, to show man that he had no hope of deliverance from eternal death without God.

Secondly, God gave Moses the Civil and Religious Laws that we read so much of in the Book of Leviticus and other books of God’s Word. These laws were meant to show man the way to living a sanctified and committed life that would result in the fulfillment of the 10 Commandment. Of course, man could no more obey all of these laws than he could the 10 Commandments and God knew it. These laws only drove the nails deeper into the coffins of condemned mankind. No man could fulfill the Law. None could attain unto holiness and righteousness because to fail in one point of the Law carried the same verdict of guilty as failing in all of the Law. The Law had power to teach, to show man where he was guilty, but it had no power to deliver or forgive sin. That’s why God gave Moses the third part of His plan to redeem mankind and through this part, to reveal to Israel, and the world, that God would send a Deliverer, a Messiah, perfect in all His ways, who would fulfill the Law perfectly and give his life for the cleansing of sin from the heart of sinful man.

That third part of God’s revelation for His plan of redemption was the detailed instructions for building a dwelling place for God among the nation of Israel. It was the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.

The Tabernacle was to be the place where God would dwell and guide His people during their wilderness journey. The building of the Tabernacle was to be one of the most joyful and momentous occasions in the history of Israel. As we shall see, everything about this tabernacle was meant to be a symbol of something far greater than a building made with hands. It was built to show every detail of how God’s very presence would one day dwell in the hearts of men.

With this in mind let us begin a journey through the Tabernacle and behold in amazement how great our God really is and what He has done for us.

Let me begin by giving you some Key Facts About the Tabernacle:

The cloud that guided by day was visible above the Holy of Holies to show that God was in their midst.

1. The Tabernacle was the worship center of Israel for a long, long time: more than 500 years from MOSES to DAVID - until Solomon’s TEMPLE was built

2. A Large Portion Of God’s Holy Word Is Dedicated To The Tabernacle: