ENGAGE
This morning I’m going to preach about a shadow. We’re all familiar with shadows, right? We know that a shadow has no independent substance or existence in itself. And although you can see a shadow, you can’t feel it or hear it or smell it or taste it. So in a sense I suppose a shadow is really nothing and you could say this sermon is a lot like the old Seinfeld show that was often described as a “show about nothing”. I know some of you are probably thinking “what’s new?” right now. But hopefully by the time we’re finished this morning I’m going to be able to demonstrate to you why this particular shadow is so important to all of us.
TENSION
Although the message this morning is part of our journey through the Old Testament this year, I’m actually going to set the stage by starting with a passage from the New Testament. So if you have your Bible handy go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter 8. The book of Hebrews is right near the end of the Bible, right before you get to the book of James and the smaller books of 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John and Jude.
[Read Hebrews 8:1-7]
In this passage, the writer of Hebrews refers twice to a tent. First, in verse 2 he writes about the “true tent” that God set up. Then in verse 5, he refers to the tent that Moses erected as he was instructed by God. We learn several things about that tent here in this passage:
• Most importantly, it was only a copy and shadow of the “true tent” in heaven. This is the shadow that we’re going to look at this morning.
• As part of the first covenant, this shadow tent was inadequate in and of itself, so there was a need for a second covenant.
• Jesus, as the mediator of this New Covenant, is far superior to the covenant that included this tent Moses erected.
So the obvious question that arises is why we should even take time to study this tent at all if it has been replaced by something and someone far superior? Let me give you a couple of reasons why I’m convinced that it’s a good use of our time to do that:
• As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…” I certainly believe that and I’m pretty sure that most of you believe that too or you wouldn’t be here today. Did you realize that there are 50 chapters of Scripture that are devoted solely to this tent? That is 25 times more than the 2 chapters devoted to creation, so it seems that it must be pretty important to God and therefore ought to be important to us.
Once again, you don’t need to worry that I’m going to read all 50 chapters this morning. Heck, I didn’t even read all of them myself in preparing for this message this week. We’re just going to hit some highlights.
• Even if this tent didn’t have such a huge portion of the Bible devoted to it, the implication of the passage that we just read in Hebrews 8 is that as a copy and shadow of the true tent, it paints a picture of Jesus that can allow us to develop a deeper understanding of who He is and what He has done for us.
TRUTH
Before we proceed this morning, there seem to be a couple extremes when it comes to the study of this tent, which is more commonly known as the tabernacle, that we want to avoid. I’ve already addressed the one extreme, which would be to just ignore the tabernacle altogether and assume that since it’s obsolete, there is really nothing for us to learn from it. At the other extreme are those who would take each and every detail of the tabernacle, down to the clasps on the curtain and assign some kind of spiritual meaning to each one. While I don’t doubt that every detail does indeed have some spiritual significance, the problem we have trying to take things to that level of detail is that we just don’t have enough information in the Bible to do that with any sense of confidence. So this morning, we’ll limit our study to areas where we have some good Scriptural backing for our conclusions.
Keeping that in mind, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 25. I’m only going to read a couple of verses in this chapter and then I’m going to take you on a tour of the tabernacle. Because we have so much ground to cover this morning, I’m not going to pause at each stop on our tour to give you a bunch of Scripture references to support everything I’m sharing even though I could easily do that because they exist. So I suggest that you apply the old Ronald Reagan policy of “trust but verify” by doing your own research to confirm that what I’m telling you is true.
Let’s look first at verse 9:
Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
(Exodus 25:9 ESV)
And now skip down to verse 40:
And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.
(Exodus 25:40 ESV)
Twice, first as it applied to the tabernacle itself, and then as it applied to the furnishings, God made it clear to Moses that everything was to be constructed exactly as God had instructed. The tabernacle was God’s idea and because it was to be a pattern that reflected both His character and His plan for reconciling Himself to man, it needed to be constructed exactly according to the plans that God gave to Moses. This is just further evidence that, at least to some degree, every detail does have some spiritual significance, even if we don’t have enough information to be sure about each and every detail.
Let’s begin our tour by focusing on the overall purpose of the tabernacle. We don’t have to guess about that because God told Moses exactly what the purpose was in verse 8 of Exodus 25:
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
(Exodus 25:8 ESV)
The Hebrew word for tabernacle literally means “dwelling place”. Now obviously God’s presence is not limited to any physical structure, but as the people wandered in the wilderness and eventually entered the land God had promised to give to them, He knew that they, not He, needed to have a place where God would manifest His presence and the people could worship. So the tabernacle was portable so it could go with the people of Israel as they travelled.
The need for that tabernacle is demonstrated just a few chapters later when Moses goes up on the mountain to receive the tablets with the Ten Commandments and the people get restless because they don’t see any evidence of God’s presence for 40 days and they end up making and worshiping a golden calf.
In your bulletin outline I’ve given you a rough sketch of the tabernacle that you can use to make notes. And for the kids, you also have a diagram that you can use to label the parts of the tabernacle and write down some measurements and I have some special prizes today for those of you who do that well. Although all the measurements that God gave to Moses were given in cubits, a measure of approximately 1-1/2 feet, the measurements that I’ll give to you today will be in feet since we’re more familiar with that.
So let’s begin with the outer courtyard. It was enclosed by white linen curtains that were each 7-1/2 feet square and which were hung on rods supported by pillars set into a bronze base. It was laid out as a rectangle that was 75 feet wide and 150 feet long. To put that in perspective, it would have been roughly half the size of a football field. There was one entrance gate which always faced east. That entrance gate was 30 feet wide and was made of curtains woven from blue, purple and scarlet thread. The gate faced east so that when the people entered the tabernacle they would be facing west – away from the rising son that was worshipped as a god by most of the pagan cultures around them, including the Egyptians
The white linen curtains surrounding the courtyard were a picture of the righteousness of God and the fact that only those who are made righteous can enter into the presence of God. Any Israelite was permitted to enter into the outer courtyard, but the only way they could enter was through the one gate on the east side of the courtyard. It’s not too difficult to see how this pictures Jesus, who described Himself both as the “door” (John 10:7) and the “way” (John 14:6). Just like there was only one way to enter the tabernacle, there is still only one way to approach God – through faith in Jesus.
The first thing that the Israelites would see upon entering the tabernacle was the bronze altar. That was also the largest furnishing in the tabernacle. That altar was 7-1/2 feet square and stood 4-1/2 feet high. It was made of acacia wood overlaid with bronze and it had four bronze horns – one at each corner.
This was the most used furnishing in the tabernacle. As we’ll talk about more later, only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place and he only did that once a year. The priests ministered in the Holy Place each morning and evening. But the fire in the bronze altar burned continuously so the people could come to make their sacrifices throughout the day. No one could go any further in the tabernacle until they first made a sacrifice on the bronze altar to atone for their sins through the shedding of blood.
Once again, we don’t have any problem seeing how Jesus is pictured by the bronze altar. It is still true that no one can approach a holy God without having his or sins atoned for through the shedding of blood. But because Jesus shed His own blood on behalf once for all, we no longer have to rely on sacrificing animals as a means of approaching God.
The next furnishing, and the last one located in the outer courtyard, was the bronze laver. It was located between the bonze altar and the entrance to the tabernacle itself. There is very little detail about the construction of the laver in God’s words to Moses. All we really know is that it was constructed from bronze that came from the mirrors of the women who ministered at the entrance to the outer court.
The bronze laver was only used by the priests. They used it to wash their hands, which were used in serving God, and their feet, which represented their walk before God, before they entered into the tabernacle itself or before they came near the altar to minister. As we talked about a couple weeks ago, when Aaron and his sons were consecrated as priests their entire bodies were washed once, but after that they only had to wash their hands and feet. The idea here was that they had to be cleansed before they could serve God.
Again the relationship to Jesus seems very clear here. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, every disciple of Jesus is also a priest. And just like those Old Testament priests, we need to be cleansed before we serve God. But we don’t do that physically by washing our hands and our feet, but we do it spiritually by confessing our sins and repenting. John, writing to Christians, wrote these familiar words:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9 ESV)
Even though our sins only need to be atoned for once, which Jesus has done for us in place of the bronze altar, we do need to be cleansed daily by confessing our sins.
After washing their hands and feet, the priests entered the tabernacle structure itself.
The tabernacle was a rectangle measuring 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet tall. It was enclosed and covered by four coverings – linen, goat’s hair, ram’s skin and badger skins. The tabernacle was further divided into two sections – The Holy Place and The Most Holy Place, also known as the Holy of Holies.
Only the priests could enter into the Holy Place and they could only do that after they had their sins atoned for at the bronze altar and washed their hands and feet in the bronze laver. The Holy Place measured 30 feet by 15 feet. It contained three pieces of furniture, all either made of gold or overlaid with gold.
• The lampstand on the south wall, which would have been to the left as the priests entered.
• The table of shewbread on the north wall
• The altar of incense located near the veil
These three items were provided to the priests for their use in ministering before God. Since, as we have pointed out, every disciple of Jesus is also a priest, I believe these three items are representative of the blessings that God provides for those who serve Him.
Let’s begin with the golden lampstand. Since there was no way for light to enter the tabernacle, this was the only source of light there. It was constructed from a single piece of solid gold and some estimate it could have weighed over 100 pounds. It consisted of six branches and a center shaft, each of which was topped by a cup in the form of an open almond flower. Each of those cups then held an oil lamp. Twice a day, the priests attended to the wick and replaced the pure olive oil so that the light would never go out.
The lampstand certainly reminds us of the words of Jesus when He said “I am the light of the world” and is also of the words of John which reveal that Jesus came to illuminate a dark world:
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
(John 1:9 ESV)
The table of shewbread is unique in that it’s importance is not the table itself, but what it held. Its purpose was to hold 12 loaves of bread representing the twelve tribes of Israel, which were placed on the table in two rows of 6 loaves. Every Sabbath day the priests put new loaves on the table and they were permitted to each the old loaves. In pagan temples, this is where the gods were believed to eat, but in Israel’s tabernacle it was understood to be the place where God fed His people, since He has no need of food Himself.
This table of bread reminds us again of the words of Jesus when He said, “I am the bread of life.” It also reminds us of Jesus’ model prayer where He taught His disciples to pray for their daily bread.
The altar of incense was 1-1/2 feet square and 3 feet tall. It had 4 golden horns. It was used for burning incense, which was to be kept burning continuously.
Several places in Scripture, burning incense is used as a picture of prayer and the altar of incense in the tabernacle is a reminder that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf.
Before we go on to the Most Holy Place, let me just point out one more fascinating fact. When we began in Hebrews 8 this morning, we read that Jesus is our high priest who is seated at the right hand of the Father. But when the priests ministered in the tabernacle and especially the ministry they carried out in the Holy Place, they were not permitted to sit down. They were to stand the whole time they ministered. So the fact that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father is just one more evidence that His death on the cross was a once for all event that doesn’t need to be carried out over and over again.
We finally come to the part of the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelled - the Most Holy Place, which was separated from the Holy Place by a thick veil. It was a perfect cube, measuring 15 feet in length, width and height. It contained two pieces of furniture, both made of gold or overlaid with gold.
• The Ark of the Covenant that contained the two tablets of the Law, a golden pot of manna and Aaron’s rod that had budded.
• The mercy seat on the lid of the Ark that consisted of 2 cherubim facing each other with wings outstretched.
Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place and he could only do that one day a year on the Day of Atonement. He entered reverently in complete silence with a bowed head and unsandaled feet. He had a rope attached to his feet and bells on his garment so that if he died while he was in there, his body could be pulled out since no one else could enter.
The veil between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place reminds us of the separation between a holy God and sinful men. But the very moment that Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying that God had accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the means that makes it possible for us to have access to God.
The ark was a rectangular wooden chest overlaid with pure gold inside and out. It was 3-3/4 feet long and 2-1/4 feet wide and high with a gold crown around the top. It represented God’s dwelling place in the tabernacle.
It is also a picture of Jesus with the wood representing his humanity and the gold representing his deity, reminding us that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man at the same time. The tablets of the law remind us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and that He is the only man who lived a sinless life, never once breaking any of those commandments. Aaron’s rod pictures something that was dead that God brought to life, just as He did when He raised His Son, Jesus, from the grave. The pot of manna reminds us once again that Jesus is the bread of life come down from heaven to do his Father’s will and raise up those who believe in Him.
The mercy seat was the cover that sat on top of the ark. It was made from solid gold. At each end were gold cherubim facing each other with their wings nearly touching. That was where the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people when he entered the Most Holy Place each year. In Romans 3 Paul writes that God presented Jesus as our propitiation. The Greek word for propitiation is the Greek equivalent of “mercy seat”
APPLICATION
Obviously, we’ve only scratched the surface here, but I hope I’ve shared enough with you this morning to convince you that this shadow that we’ve been studying – the tabernacle – is important and that our study has been well worth our time. I did a detailed study of the tabernacle many years ago, but for me, it’s been fascinating to come back and be reminded all that we can learn about the reality – Jesus – from the shadow – the tabernacle.
But the really important question we still must answer this morning is this: What difference does this make in my life today?
As I was working on the message this week, the thought that kept coming back to mind is the same one that we developed a couple weeks ago when we looked at the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests:
God takes sin seriously
and so must I
Everything about the tabernacle reminds me that my sin is serious because it separates me from God. And dealing with that sin requires some serious attention on my part. But the tabernacle is also a reminder of just how incapable I am of dealing with my sin on my own. Let’s face it, if only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place once a year, and even then only after going through some complicated and difficult rites of cleansing, what chance do any of us have?
INSPIRATION
But the good news is that Jesus has already dealt with our sin for us. As we close this morning, let’s go back to the book of Hebrews, this time to chapter 9, beginning in verse 11:
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
(Hebrews 9:11-14 ESV)
Notice the two things that Jesus did for us. First, He serves as our bronze altar, securing for us an eternal redemption by paying the penalty for our sins once for all by the shedding of His blood. He provides a way for us to enter beyond the veil into the Most Holy Place so we can have a personal relationship with a holy God
Second, He serves as our bronze laver by purifying our conscience from our dead works so that we can serve the living God on a daily basis.
ACTION
But Jesus doesn’t automatically do those two things for everyone. He only does that for those who respond to Him by faith. So this morning I’m going to suggest a couple of possible next steps that all of us should consider this morning in order to do just that:
First, if you have been trying to come to God based on what you can do, you’ve probably found that to be very frustrating, haven’t you? And as we’ve looked at the tabernacle this morning, hopefully you can see why that is. It’s an impossible task for a sinful human to approach a holy God on our own. So the only way we can approach God is through the true tent, Jesus. And if you’ve never take that first step, we invite you to do that this morning.
Because that is such an important decision and we want you to fully consider the cost before you make it, we would like to discuss what it means to put your trust in Jesus with you in more detail at your convenience. You can let us know you’d like to do that by one of several means:
• Talk to me or to one of our Elders after the service today. Or contact us this week – our contact information is included in the bulletin.
• Fill out the Connection Card on the bulletin and give it to me or to any of our greeters or Elder.
• Go to the website or Facebook and contact us there.
Since I’m confident that most of you hear today have already done that, I’m going to suggest a different next step for you. Although you’ve already been granted access to God through faith in Jesus, you are like those priests who had to continually wash their hands and feet before they could serve God. So I want to encourage you to build into your schedule each day a time to ask God to reveal any sin in your life and then confess that sin and take whatever steps that you need to take to make sure that sin doesn’t become a lifestyle. That’s the only way you’re going to be prepared to serve God each day.
Shadows may not seem too important, but the tabernacle is indeed a significant one because of how it points us to Jesus.
[Prayer]
