Introduction
1. The Tabernacle would have been a wonderful place...
right at the center of camp...
all the Children of Israel camping around it in the specified locations...
The colorful cloths...
the gold and bronze furnishings...
the pillar of fire at night...
the pillar of cloud by day...
Knowing that God was with them...
what a powerful thing that must have been to be there...
2. I would like for us to approach the tabernacle and imagine what it must have been like...
I would like for us to enter the gate and participate in the events that would have taken place upon the altar of sacrifice...
And, as we study the wilderness tabernacle from thousands of years ago...
may God speak to us even today...
Read Text: Exodus 25:8
Why should we study the Tabernacle?1...
Well, let me give you just 4 reasons...although I’m sure that there are many more.
1. Well, for one thing...it’s in the Bible!!!
And if we consider ourselves serious students of God’s Word...
Then we must study the WHOLE Scripture...
And that includes the chapters on the Tabernacle...
by the way...The Creation Story only occupies 2 chapters in the Bible...
While the Tabernacle occupies 50 chapters in the Bible!!
So, simply by the preponderance of the coverage in the Bible..
we must study it!
It is found in covered in both the Old and New Testaments...
2. The Tabernacle is a portrait of Christ!
The Tabernacle is the story of God making His dwelling amongst us...
And that is the story of Jesus...
John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and DWELT AMONG US”...
3. The Tabernacle is also the portrait of the Christian...
1 Corinthians 3:16 says,
“Do you not know that you are a temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
4. The Tabernacle is also the portrait of heaven!!
Hebrews 9:11-12 says,...
But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. (TM)
And Revelation 21:3 says, “The Tabernacle of God is among men, and ...God Himself shall dwell among them”
Layout of the Tabernacle
1. The Tabernacle was 150 feet long by 75 feet wide...
There is only one gate...
There is no other way to enter the Tabernacle...
there is no backdoor into the presence of God...
Jesus Christ said,
“I am the Way...No man comes to the Father except through Me”
...John 14:6
2. Interestingly, The gate faces East...
In other words, when God’s people came to worship God in His Presence...
Their backs were to the rising sun...
This would have been completely opposite from the way that the pagan sun worshipers of the day (and even today) who always faced East.
Ezekiel wrote, in Ezekiel 8:16...
God then brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD,
and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,
were about twenty-five men.
With their backs toward the temple of the LORD
and their faces toward the east,
they were bowing down to the sun in the east.
3. Within the fenced off area of the Tabernacle...
There are 6 pieces of furniture...
2 that are in the courtyard...
the Altar of Sacrifice...also called the Brazen Altar...
and the Brazen Laver...
3 items that are in the Holy Place...
The Table of Showbread...
The Golden Lampstand...
and the Altar of Incense...
And then 1 item within the Most Holy Place...
The Ark of the Covenant...
Over the next several weeks, we will study the various pieces of furniture within the Tabernacle...
their function...and their significance...
The Altar of Sacrifice
1. The altar was 7 1/2 feet square...
and 4 1/2 feet deep...
It was made of acacia wood, covered in bronze...
There was a grate upon which the animal was placed...
and 4 corner pieces...called “horns” in the Bible...
these corner pieces were used to tie the animal and hold it upon the altar...
2. The Altar of Sacrifice was Placed First
It was the first thing that the people would come to upon entering through the gate...
Before people could come into the presence of a Holy God...
they had to deal with the issue of their sin...
The same thing is true for us...
Before we can come into the presence of God...
we must admit our sin...
and we express our sorrow for our sin...
3. In the Wilderness Tabernacle... Animal Sacrifices were used to provide the blood debt required for the people’s sin...
Leviticus 4:27-29 says...
If a member of the community sins...he is guilty.
he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect.
He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering.
The act of laying his hand on the sacrifice served the purpose of letting that person know that that animal was being a substitute...
That person was placing his trust in God that God would forgive his sin because of the animal that was dying in his place.
4. Jesus is our Lamb
He is our substitute...
He was tied, as it were, to the 4 corners of the altar, upon the cross...
And there, He spilled His blood...and He died...
and His sacrifice served the same function as the lamb or goat that was sacrificed in the Wilderness Tabernacle.
5. The altar was raised up...
In fact, the word “altar” means “high place”...
and the brazen altar was placed upon a mound raising it up...
In the same way, Jesus was raised up...
In John 12:32, Jesus says, “and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me’...
And again, in John 3:14 & 15...
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life
6. The had to be perfect...without spot or blemish...
They couldn’t bring their sickly half dead animal and sacrifice it...
it had to be healthy and whole...perfect...
So was Jesus, as our sacrifice...perfect...holy...without sin...
2 Corinthians 5:21...
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
7. So, there are a lot of similarities between the animal sacrifice and the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross...
But there are some important differences...
Read Hebrews 10:1-18
When the Children of Israel brought an animal sacrifice...
it wasn’t just a one time thing and then it was over...
No...it had to be done over and over again...
Although the blood provided atonement...a covering for the sin...
it did not remove it...
the sacrifices were a temporary covering...
And although temporary...it was still required...
it showed them what was required for the forgiveness of sin...
death, and the shedding of blood...
But, when Jesus Christ came...
He became the Ultimate Sacrifice...
We do not need to offer animal sacrifices today...
because our faith in Christ’s sacrifice is permanent...
His blood that was shed covers all our sin..
8. The Horns of the Altar
Horns were a symbol of power and strength in Jesus’ day...
and when the animal was sacrificed upon the altar of sacrifice...
some of the blood was placed upon the 4 horns...
For us today, the horns symbolize the power of the blood of Jesus to forgive sin...
Psalm 18:2 says,
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
and Luke 1:69...speaking about Jesus...
God has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
Conclusion
1. The Tabernacle was a portable structure...
as the Children of Israel traveled throughout the wilderness...
the Tabernacle was carried with them...
when God gave them the 10 Commandments...
He also specified the direction for building the Tabernacle...
the Tabernacle was the location for God to dwell within the camp...
Later on, it was Solomon’s Temple...
And still later, God literally dwelled with us through the person of Jesus Christ...
But today, Christ doesn’t dwell in buildings and such...
He dwells within us...
WE are a Tabernacle...
Exodus 25:8 says,
“Let them construct a Sanctuary for me...
so that I can live among them.”
We are that sanctuary...
we are that Tabernacle...
we are that place that Jesus dwells in the presence of His Holy Spirit.
2. God gave specific instructions about His dwelling place in the Tabernacle...
and He gives us specific instructions for His dwelling place within our hearts...
we are to provide a place that is clean, and holy and pure...
without spot or blemish...
We cannot deal with the problem of sin on our own...
it is only through the power of Christ and His shed blood that we can be made clean...
His blood provided the sacrifice that sin required...
The altar of sacrifice stands as a reminder for us...
that Jesus Christ died for our sins...
3. And then, God requires another sacrifice from us...
not a bull or a goat...
But, according to Romans 12:1...
God requires us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice...
holy and acceptable unto the Lord...
Galatians 2:20. Paul says...
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
4. With these thoughts in mind...
it is certainly appropriate to close with communion...
and remember Christ’s sacrifice for us...
and re-commit ourselves to presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice unto Him.
Close with communion
1 Resources that helped me
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness by Fred Overton, Jr.
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness by John J. Van Gorder
Handfuls of Purpose
www.the-tabernacle-place.com
