Tabernacle: Where God Dwells
Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 9. Growing up, I often heard the quote about the Bible: “The New (Testament) is in the Old Concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” We are continuing on in our study through the Old Testament. I hope you have had a chance to read along with us in Exodus 24-30 this week. We want to talk about the Tabernacle today, the tent where the Jews met with God, and I can’t think of a better place to turn than to Hebrews 9.
In Hebrews, the author - I believe most likely the Apostle Paul - writes about two covenants, a covenant of law and a covenant of grace, a covenant of works and a covenant of faith, a covenant of condemnation and a covenant or salvation. He states that we have been given great blessing to be part of the New Covenant between God and man that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. In describing this covenant, the picture of the Tabernacle is referred to. Let’s use this as our starting point today. We’ll read Hebrews 9:1-5 - “Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.”
The writer here gives us a quick description of the tabernacle. It was a travelling sanctuary in the wilderness. It was a place for the Jews to worship. But much more importantly, it was the place where the presence of God dwelt. But to understand it’s significance, we will refer back to Exodus. In Exodus 19, God brings the Jews to Mt. Sinai, his holy mountain, the “mountain of God” as it is called in Exodus 24:13. In Exodus 20, God declares His covenant to his people, the Jews. Moses comes up on the mountain, and God declares the terms of this covenant. In Exodus 24, we see Moses reads the terms of God’s covenant with the leaders of the Jews. They agree, and 24:10 tells us, “they saw God, and they ate and drank.” God makes his covenant, and bread is broken, and the cup is taken.
Compare that with what Jesus does with his disciples during the last supper. In a remembrance of the Passover, celebrating under the Old Covenant, according to the law, there is bread and wine. And Jesus, we see in Luke 22:19-20 - “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” He takes the bread and cup and signifies the start of a NEW covenant.
Back to Exodus. On the mount, God reveals to Moses elaborate plans for a tabernacle, a tent, and all the furnishings to be put in it. Actually Exodus 25 tells us that Moses was given a “pattern” on the mountain. “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” God showed Moses a pattern. What was this pattern? This is just my thinking, but I believe that God actually let Moses look into heaven and see what things look like in heaven.
I believe there is a “tabernacle” in heaven, complete with furnishings like there was here on earth. Hebrews 8:5 tells us that priests “serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.” Revelation 15:5 tells us “After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened.” Revelation 11:19 - “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.” So the tabernacle was a shadow of what awaits us in heaven. I believe God let Moses see that, and that was his pattern for constructing the earthly tabernacle.
But why? Exodus 29:44-46 tells us, “So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”
The God of all creation, the God who in Genesis 1 speaks and the heavens are made, the God who in Genesis 3 forms man in his own image, the God of whom we are told “even the heavens cannot contain Him” - chooses to come down and live in a tent with the Jews. This is the place where God chooses to call home. And that, in itself, shows us how much God cares about us, that he chooses to dwell with us.
We see God does the same idea in John 1:14 - speaking of Jesus - “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us [or pitched his tent among us]. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The words here “made his dwelling” are literally the words “pitched his tent.” In the birth of Christ, for the second time, God comes down and dwells in a tent - this time a human tent - and gives his presence to mankind.
God is present among his people. And he gives a visible demonstration of this for everyone to see in the tabernacle. And as we look at the design of the tabernacle today, the question we consider is this: “How do I draw near to a holy God?” Every Jew saw the tabernacle every day - it was always in the center of the camp. The pillar of cloud and pillar of fire was over it every day and night. But God set up specific instructions about how He could be approached. Let’s consider them today.
I. The Camp - Whenever the Jews stopped in their wilderness wanderings, they set up camp. The tabernacle was set up, with the door and gate facing eastward. The tribes of Israel then spread out their tents around the camp. Around the tabernacle were the priests, those of the tribe of Levi. The family of Aaron, the high priest camped right to the east. Beyond them were the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. To the south were the Levite clan of the Kohathites, who had charge of all the furnishings of the sanctuary. Beyond them were the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. To the west, was the Levite clan of the Gershonites, who had charge of the tent, the coverings, and hangings. Beyond them were the tribes of Ephraim, Manassah, and Benjamin. To the north was the Levite clan of the Merarites, who took charge of the boards, pillars, sockets, pins and cords. Beyond them were the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.
Now, this seems very tedious for God to record all these details for us. But we learn a few things by it. First, God is a God of order. He has a plan for how things should be done. But beyond this, the Lord groups His people around Himself as worshipers, workers, and warriors. Each one knows his place. The priests are in front of the tabernacle for worship, the other Levites are around the tent for the work of the tabernacle, and the warriors are on the outside to protect the whole nation. God has a plan for how everything fits together.
In the same way, he brings us together in the body of Christ. Each one of us has a part to play. None of us is more important than the other. And we all need each other. 1 Corinthians 12 reminds us, But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
So the tabernacle is in the center of the camp, with the Israelites all camped around the outside. And every Israelite is given a vivid picture that God wants to be in the center of our lives. God led Israel around with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And when that pillar stopped at some place, that was the place to make camp. They set up the tabernacle right at the spot where the pillar had stopped. And then they set up everything else in a square around it. 3 tribes to the north, 3 to the east, 3 to the south, and 3 to the west. And right in the middle is God’s house, with God himself right in the middle of it. God wants to be at the center of our lives!
And that is the lesson of the camp for us today. We need to put God at the CENTER of our lives. And since we can’t move God around, this means we need to arrange our lives around God and God’s priorities. God’s priority is saving the world through Jesus Christ, and he’s given us the task of reproducing our lives in others - making disciples. Is that a priority for you? Is your whole life arranged around that job? That’s what God wants. He wants our passions to be centered on His passions. A few practical things we can do: Set aside time in our schedules for making friends with non-churched people. Jesus did that, because God was the center of his life. If you don’t know any non-Christians, you won’t be able to win any non-Christians to the Lord. If God is the center of our lives, we will live according to His plan - in the world, but not of the world.
Plan and budget your finances so that you can use God’s money for God’s purposes. At the beginning of the year, ask God what percentage of that year’s income he wants you to give for ministry. He might ask for all of it. He might ask for 30%. He may ask for 10%. But ask him, and then arrange the rest of your financial plans around his will. The layout of the Camp reminds us that God is to have our central focus.
2. The Courtyard
Around the tabernacle and courtyard, there was a large curtain. And Exodus 27 tells us at the east end there was a gate. God excludes all the Jews from coming to the tabernacle any way but through the gate. He is a holy God and they are a sinful people, and the only way to come to worship was through the doorway he provided.
What does Jesus say to us? In John 10 - Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. Later in John 14 - “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.”
Upon coming into the courtyard, the Jews would bring their sacrifices to a bronze altar. Exodus 27 tells us “Using acacia wood, make a square altar 7 1/2 feet wide, 7 1/2 feet long, and 4 1/2 feet high. Make a horn at each of the four corners of the altar so the horns and altar are all one piece. Overlay the altar and its horns with bronze.” So when the Jews walked into the courtyard, the first thing they are confronted with is the issue of their own sinfulness and its consequences. All the way back to the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, they saw God use a blood sacrifice to atone for their sins. Hebrews 9:22 reminds us, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The first thing the Jew saw in the sanctuary was the altar where sacrifice was made for his sins. But even the priests themselves had to offer sacrifices, for they were sinful, human men as well. Hebrews 5 states Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
Before anyone could come to God, atonement needed to be made for sin, by the shedding of the blood of a perfect, spotless lamb. We understand that all of these OT sacrifices never took away sins, they merely covered over them until the time when a perfect sacrifice could be offered. Hebrews 10:1 - The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Instead, a perfect sacrifice was needed. 1 Peter 2 tells us,
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Today, what does God ask of us? Not to bring lambs or bulls or goats. Instead Romans 12 reminds us, Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
The brazen altar reminds us of the need of internal cleansing from sin. After the priest would offer sacrifice on the altar, the would then stop at a large LAVER - a polished brass basin for washing. We don’t know exactly it’s size, but the priests would come and wash their hands and feet before coming into the tabernacle. Exodus 30:18 - “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the LORD by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.”
The priests had already offered sacrifice for their sins and the peoples sins, but they needed an external step of cleansing. It reminds me of the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet in John 13. Jesus tells Peter “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.”
For the Christian, whenever we sin, we do not need to be saved all over again, but we do need to confess and restore our relationship with our God. You may be a Christian today, and there’s not a doubt about it. But what little sins have you been holding on to. The bronze basin reminds us of the daily need for cleansing and confession.
3. The Holy Place - After sacrifice was made, and the priest would wash in the basin, he would come to the door of the tabernacle proper, the tent where God dwelt. The tent was divided in two parts: the first section was called the “Holy Place” and the second was called the “Most Holy Place” or sometimes called the “Holy of Holies” or “Holiest of All.” In the first room there was a LAMPSTAND, an INCENSE ALTAR, and a TABLE OF BREAD. Three parts that would have been in every Jewish house. The lampstand was made out of pure gold, Exodus 25:31 tells us. It provided light in the tent, and its wicks were to be trimmed and the lamps filled with oil every morning by the priests. This is a reminder that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. But more than that, no matter what time of day or night the priest entered, there would be light for him to see. A reminder for us that no matter the time or place, we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
The altar of incense, in the setting of sweaty, smelly desert travelers, would have filled the tent with a fragrant odor. For the priests, coming to meet with the Lord is very enjoyable, because of the incense burning in the tent.
Have you ever gone into those stores in the malls that are run by Vietnamese or Thai peoples. There was one in PA called the Plum Tree, and they always had incense burning, and it smelled great.
The odor and smoke of the burning incense also rises, and is a picture of our prayers rising to God himself. David writes in Psalm 141:2 - “May my prayer be set before you like incense”. In Revelation 5:8 we see a picture of the end times. It says, “the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
The third furnishing was a table of bread, that the priest supplied, and which they then later ate in the Holy Place. Here we find the idea of friendship and fellowship with God.
So, in this Holy Place, we are reminded that God is light, and we are always welcome to come worship him. Worship is pleasing and enjoyable. And our God nourishes us so we can worship.
4. The Most Holy Place - Exodus 26:33 tells us that a curtain separated between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Behind the curtain the presence of God dwelt. But the way to the Most Holy Place was shut to anyone but the high priest, and then he could go only once a year on the day of atonement. Hebrews 9:6 tells us the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
But Christ has opened the way into the very presence of God for us. When he was crucified, we are told in Matthew 27:51 - At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
It is important that we note the curtain was torn from the top down, initiated by God himself. Hebrews 10:19 tells us Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body. While all the priests of the OT were kept out of the presence of God by a curtain, we are invited to come into the very presence of God and enjoy fellowship with him.
Behind the curtain was one piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant or the ark of the testimony. This was made of wood and covered with pure gold. The top of it was a solid gold lid that had two angels on it. This was called the “mercy seat” or the place of atonement. It was here that the blood would be sprinkled on the day of atonement. Inside the ark were three items, a pot of manna, as a reminder that God always provides - we can trust God. Aaron’s rod that budded, a reminder that we should worship God. And the tablets of stone, a reminder that we need to obey God.
The reminder of the Most Holy Place is that we should settle for nothing less than personal fellowship with God. Religion and rituals are meaningless without personal relationship with God. Israel constantly settled for less than God. They settled for idols. They settled for ways of living that did not honor God. They settled for religious symbols over the presence of the real God. They settled for just keeping the letter of the law while their hearts were far from actually loving God. Here’s the question: What are you settling for? Are you settling for a religious life? You know, go to church once a week, put some money in the offering plate, and then consider your religious duty done and then spend the rest of the week trying to get by. Are you settling for a religious life when you have been offered entry into the infinite being and joy of the God of the universe? Through Christ, you have been given the opportunity to live every second of your life with the all-powerful God at your side, sharing life with you, both the good parts and the bad. The opportunity to live your life in the power and love of God.
Hebrews 9:11 summarizes the lesson for us: When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
What is the ultimate example of the Tabernacle? We need to serve the living and true God. He is to be the center of our life. He is our means of cleansing and forgiveness. He provides for our every need. And he desires to have that community with him that was lost in the fall. Today, don’t settle for anything less than intimate fellowship with God.
Let’s pray.
