Exodus 25:
“Tabernacle Background/The Regulations For Building Of The Tabernacle: Part #1”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapters
23-24 of the
book of Exodus.
1.1.1. In chapter 23 we
completed looking at the reception of the “Civil Laws” from God.
1.1.2. We looked at the
inaugeration of the old covenant which occurred by the sprinkling of blood on
the children of
1.1.3. Moses, Nadab and Abihu,
and seventy elders of
1.1.4. Finally, Moses went back
up on the mountain with Joshua, leaving Aaron and Hur and the seventy elders in
charge over the people, and the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone,
and Moses stayed there before the Lord for forty days and nights, without even
eating or drinking.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 25
of the book of Exodus.
1.2.1. To start off our study, I
have a question to ask you: What subject
or object occupies more verses of the Bible than any other? The answer is the Tabernacle. In the book of Exodus alone ten chapters tell
us about the Tabernacle. So, if this one
subject or object has such detail recorded for it, then we would naturally think
that their must be an awful lot of that the Lord wants to communicate to us
through the medium of the Tabernacle.
1.2.2. Quoting Adolph Saphir,
Arthur Pink brings out three different meanings of the Tabernacle for us: “In
the first place, the tabernacle is a type, a visible illustration of that
heavenly place in which God has His dwelling.
In the second place, the tabernacle is a type of Jesus Christ, who is
the meeting place between God and man.
And, in the third place, the tabernacle is a type of Christ in the
church—of the communion of Jesus with all believers.”
1.2.3. That the Tabernacle as an illustration of the heavenly place of God’s dwelling
is indicated in Hebrews 9:23-24 where we see that was “to be patterned after
the true” Tabernacle: “Therefore it was
necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place
made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
1.2.4. The Tabernacle as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
especially during His the days of His incarnation is seen in a few places in
scripture, including:
1.2.4.1.2 Corinthians 5:19:
“namely,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
1.2.4.2.Colossians 2:9:
“For
in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”
1.2.4.3.Hebrews 10:5: “Therefore, when He comes
into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and
offering You have not desired, But
a body You have prepared for Me.”
1.2.4.4.John 1:1: “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the
right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and
we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace
and truth.” Notice that the word translated “dwelt”
in verse 14 literally means “tabernacled.”
1.2.5. The Tabernacle as a type of Jesus Christ in the church and the communion of
Jesus Christ with all believers is seen in the many
sacrifices, mediations, and offerings that were carried out in the Tabernacle
in order for God’s people to be placed in proper relation with Him, and commune
with Him.
1.2.6. In Hebrews 10:7, Psalm 40:7 is quoted which has the
Messiah speaking of Himself saying He was coming, and then remarking, “In
the volume of the book it is written of Me.” If such a huge section of our Bible is taken
up with the construction and operation of the Tabernacle, then we expect it to
reflect a lot upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, in every part of the construction of the Tabernacle we can see
Jesus Christ reflected.
1.2.7. The Tabernacle was just a tent made of plain boards
and skins, and apart from some of its furnishings not brilliant in its splendor
(as is the case with the temples of the gods of this world). This is because the Tabernacle symbolized the
Lord Jesus Christ in His first advent, the incarnation, just as these passages
reflect upon Jesus Christ:
1.2.7.1.Philippians 2:5-7:
“Have
this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men.”
1.2.7.2.Isaiah 53:1-3:
“Who
has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender
shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately
form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should
be attracted to Him. He
was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not
esteem Him.”
1.2.8. If the Tabernacle reflects upon Jesus Christ in His
incarnation and humility, then the temple, which was designed to be a permanent
and gloriously adorned structure, reflects upon Jesus Christ in His resurrected
glory, and of His second advent.
1.2.9. In the camp of
1.2.10. The Tabernacle
was the place where God met with man, and it was called “the tent of meeting”
and the Israelite was to come to the door of the Tabernacle if he wanted to
draw near to Jehovah: Exodus
25:21-22: “You shall put the mercy seat on
top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to
you. There I will meet
with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which
are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will
give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” Likewise,
there is just one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim.
2:5).
1.2.11. The Tabernacle was the place where God’s Law was kept,
as it was inscribed on the two tablets and to be stored in the Ark of the
Covenant according to Deut. 10:2-5.
1.2.12. In the Tabernacle sacrifices were made, and Jesus
Christ is typified in the Brazen Altar as well as all of the other furniture of
the Tabernacle. The sacrifice of Jesus
Christ for the sins of mankind upon
1.2.13. The Tabernacle was the place where the priestly family
fed (Lev. 6:16-26), and this speaks of Christ, the Bread of Life, as being the
food and sustenance of God’s priestly family today.
1.2.14. The Tabernacle was the place of worship for the
Israelites, and it is to Jesus Christ that we are to offer up to God a
continual sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15).
1.2.15. There was just one door into the Tabernacle, and in
the same way there is just one door to God, and that would through Jesus Christ
who says of Himself, “I am the door,” and the only way to God (John
14:6-7).
1.2.16. The Tabernacle was to be in the center of the
Israelites whenever they camped, as it was the center of their worship and
civil life. In the same way, Jesus
Christ is to be the center of our lives in the church today as God’s
people.
1.2.17. So, all of the objects in and the construction of the
Tabernacle provide object lessons for us of spiritual truth, and this could be
expected because it is called: “the
Tent of the Testimony” (Num. 9:15).
1.2.18. The Tabernacle declares to us that God is holy and
majestic, that sin separates a man from God, that one may only be brought near
to God through the shedding of blood, that there must be a mediator in order
for a person to be brought near to God, through the sacrifice on the brazen
altar that there must be a substitutionary victim on behalf of the guilty
person, and through the water of the laver declares cleansing for the washing
away our sins.
1.2.19. It was only the priestly family who could enter within
the Tabernacle and this is a symbol of the fact that in the new covenant that
we are all priests before the Lord:
1.2.19.1.1 Peter 2:5: “you also, as living
stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
1.2.19.2.1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim
the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light.”
1.2.20. The Tabernacle was enclosed by white walls of pure
white curtains indicating the holiness of God.
1.2.21. The first thing mentioned about the Tabernacle has
nothing directly to do with its construction, but is the Ark of the
Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is the
most important part of the Tabernacle for the mercy seat of the
1.2.22. The order of the construction of the tabernacle and
its contents is significant:
1.2.22.1.The
1.2.22.2.The Table of the showbread.
1.2.22.3.The candlestick.
1.2.22.4.The curtains.
1.2.22.5.The boards of the Tabernacle, with the veil that
separated.
1.2.22.6.The brazen altar.
1.2.22.7.The hangings of the court.
2.
VS 25:1-7 - “1 Then the Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the sons of
2.1.
It is heartwarming to see that the children of
2.2.
The materials that were dedicated by the people to the Lord
for the construction of the Tabernacle were obtained almost exclusively as a
result of the Israelites plundering of the Egyptians the day before they
escaped from Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Now, we can see more clearly why the Lord had commanded them to each ask
of his neighbor for these kinds of articles before their exodus.
2.3.
In Exodus 35:21-29, we read about the generous donations
that were made by the Israelites of all of these items, and then in Exodus
36:5-7 we read about how that the people actually had to be restrained in their
giving because they had already given more than enough: “and they said to Moses,
“The people are bringing much more than enough for the construction work which
the Lord commanded us to
perform.” So Moses issued a
command, and a proclamation was circulated throughout the camp, saying, “Let no
man or woman any longer perform work for the contributions of the sanctuary.”
Thus the people were restrained from bringing any more. For the material they had was sufficient
and more than enough for all the work, to perform it.”
3.
VS 25:8-9 - “8 “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may
dwell among them. 9 “According to all that I
am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern
of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.” - The Lord tells Moses that He wants the
Israelites to construct a sanctuary for Him so that He can dwell among them,
and that he was going to give Moses a pattern to build it according to
3.1.
The Tabernacle is
called a ‘sanctuary’ to the Lord, a word which means “a chapel or a
holy or sacred place.”
3.2.
Note here in beginning this discussion about the proper
construction and materials for the Tabernacle that the Lord begins by saying
that He desires so that: ‘I may dwell
among them.’ The Tabernacle shall be
the dwelling place of the Lord.
3.3.
The Lord tells Moses that they must build this Tabernacle
entirely according to all that He is showing to them, and He tells them that
there is a ‘pattern of the tabernacle
and…[a] pattern of all its furniture.’ All must be done according to the strict
directions and pattern given by the Lord.
The reason for this is that these earthly things must accurately
represent heavenly things.
3.4.
The Tabernacle represents Jesus Christ, the salvation and
gracious benefits He brings to mankind.
Therefore, each and every pattern must be carried out in fine detail,
and with no deviations.
3.4.1. In the same way, there
are not many ways that a person might be able to come to the Lord and come to
know the Lord. It is only in the precise
way in which the Lord has proscribed in which mankind may come to know the
Lord.
4.
VS 25:10-16 - “10 “They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two
and a half cubits long, and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits
high. 11 “You shall overlay it
with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold
molding around it. 12 “You shall cast four gold
rings for it and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one
side of it and two rings on the other side of it. 13 “You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay
them with gold. 14 “You shall put the poles
into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. 15 “The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark;
they shall not be removed from it. 16 “You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall
give you.”
- The Lord gives to Moses instructions
on the building of an ark for the Tabernacle
4.1.
The Lord immediately begins to describe not the materials
and how to build the Tabernacle itself.
Instead, He begins with that which is most important, the ‘ark.’
4.2.
There are three
different arks mentioned in the Old Testament, and each symbolizes salvation:
4.2.1.
4.2.2. The Ark of the Covenant.
4.2.3. The
4.3.
There are seven different titles by which the ‘ark’
is named in the scriptures, and the sum of them reveal its importance and
centrality in the nation of
4.3.1. The
Most common usage and derives from the fact that
it carried the two tablets of the Ten Commandments.
4.3.2. The Ark of the Covenant
(Num. 10:33).
Jesus Christ is the surety of a better covenant
according to Heb. 7:23.
4.3.3. The
This was used just after
4.3.4. The
This is the only utensil of the Tabernacle that God
directly identifies Himself with and this is because it symbolizes the second
person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ.
4.3.5. The
The title ‘Lord’ refers to headship or
rule.
4.3.6. The Holy Ark (2 Chron.
35:3).
The ark is holy because the One whom it symbolizes
is holy.
4.3.7. The
1
Corinthians 1:24: “but to those who are the
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
4.4.
‘Acacia’ trees are the very hardy and are the only
ones that grow in the desert in
4.5.
But, the ‘Acacia’ is just wood, yet wood that is
covered on all sides by gold (symbolizing God).
These two materials, wood and gold, represent the two natures of Jesus
Christ. The humbleness of His humanity
is seen in the wood, and the glory of His divinity covers Him in all that He
does and is seen in the gold. The gold
that must be used also had to be ‘pure gold’ or gold in which all of the
impurities had been removed by fire and hammering.
4.6.
The length of the ark is to be 2 ½ cubits and its width
and height is to be 1 ½ cubits.
4.7.
Two gold rings were to be fastened on either side of the
ark and a pole for each side was to be used in order to carry the ark. The poles were to also be fashioned of the
durable acacia wood, and they were to be overlaid with gold. The wood of the ark symbolized Jesus Christ’s
humanity, and the wood of the two poles symbolized the humanity of those who
carried the ark. But, the fact that the
poles were to be covered with gold could indicate that the believer in Christ
will share in resurrection glory with Lord whom He carries.
4.8.
These two poles perhaps symbolize the fact that in God’s
perspective the institution of marriage is the center of redeemed society (just
as the ark was the center of the Tabernacle) and that a marriage is meant to be
lived by a man and a woman together carrying the Lord Jesus Christ as the
center of the lives and home, He being that which keeps them bound together in
unity.
5.
VS 25:17-22 - “17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two and
a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 18 “You shall make two cherubim of gold, make them of
hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 “Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the
other end; you shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat
at its two ends. 20 “The cherubim shall have their
wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing
one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy
seat. 21 “You shall put the mercy seat
on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give
to you. 22 “There I will meet with
you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are
upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give
you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” - The Lord gives Moses the instruction about
how to build the mercy seat for the ark
5.1.
We now read the requirements for the construction of the
mercy seat. The mercy seat is the most important part of the ark because
it is the place where the Lord would dwell and also the place where the blood
of the substitutionary victim’s blood is placed.
5.2.
We see that the dimensions of the mercy seat are
identical with those of the top of the ark, so it covered the entire top.
5.3.
At the two ends of the mercy seat were to be made two ‘cherubim
of gold,’ and these were to be hammered into shape and actually be one
piece with the mercy seat.
5.4.
The cherubim were to be facing each other with their
wings were to be spread upward and their faces ‘turned toward the mercy seat.’ This is reminiscent of the fact that the
angels are curious about the salvation by grace that believers have been
granted in Christ: 1 Peter 1:10-12:
“As
to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to
you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time
the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings
of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were
not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced
to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent
from heaven—things into which
angels long to look.” Literally
from the Greek, Peter writes here that the angels “bend down” or “stoop”
to look into these things.
5.5.
The Lord tells Moses that in the ark ‘you shall put
the testimony’ which He would give to Him, which of course refers to the two
tablets of the Ten Commandments.
5.6.
Notice particularly that the Lord tells Moses that ‘from
between the two cherubim’ on the ark that the Lord would: ‘meet with you,’ and also ‘speak to you about all that I will give
you in commandment for the sons of
6.
VS 25:23-30 - “23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits
long and one cubit wide and one and a half cubits high. 24 “You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a
gold border around it. 25 “You shall make for it a
rim of a handbreadth around it; and you shall make a gold border for the
rim around it. 26 “You shall make four gold
rings for it and put rings on the four corners which are on its four feet. 27 “The rings shall be close to the rim as holders
for the poles to carry the table. 28 “You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them
with gold, so that with them the table may be carried. 29 “You shall make its dishes and its pans and its
jars and its bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of
pure gold. 30 “You shall set the bread
of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.” - The Lord gives instruction to Moses about how
to make a table for the shewbread for the Tabernacle
6.1.
The table of the shewbread also symbolizes the Lord Jesus
Christ. But, this time it symbolizes the
fact that He who is the Bread from Heaven is to be the food and sustenance of
the believer.
6.2.
Like the ark, the table was to be made of the durable
acacia wood and covered with gold. This again
points to the two natures in the Lord, human and divine, and that it is in the
union of both natures that the Lord is to be the food of the believer.
6.3.
Going straight from discussion the construction of the
6.4.
Secondly, the construction of the Table of Shewbread symbolizes that the Lord should
continually be the believer’s sufficiency and sustenance, or food. Jesus said that He was the Bread come down
from heaven and that His disciples had to eat His flesh and drink His
blood. Christ is our sufficiency as
believers and we have all that we need in Him, just as it says: Philippians
4:19: “And my God will supply all your
needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
6.5.
There were to be twelve cakes or loaves that were always
to be present on the Table, and this symbolized the fact that each of the
tribes of
6.6.
The twelve cakes all had to be of the same quality, size,
and weight also, and this speaks of the fact that in God’s economy and kingdom
that He loves all of His children equally.
Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard tells the same story. Each of the workers was paid the very same
amount at the end of the day, including those who only worked a single hour of
the day.
6.7.
The cakes were to appear on the table for seven days, and
then at that time they were replaced and the sons of Aaron, who served as
priests, could eat them (see Lev. 24:5-9).
6.8.
The bread for the table was called “shewbread” or
the “bread of faces” and indicates the fact that the Lord knows the name
of each of His children.
6.9.
The dishes, pans, jars, and bowls were to be made of pure
gold also, and this indicates that every work of grace in the lives of
believers is a divine work.
7.
VS 25:31-40 - “31 “Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The
lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work;
its cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32 “Six branches shall go out from its sides; three
branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand
from its other side. 33 “Three cups shall be shaped
like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three
cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a
flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand; 34 and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms,
its bulbs and its flowers. 35
“A bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out
of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of
it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it,
for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. 36 “Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one
piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold. 37 “Then you shall make its lamps seven in number;
and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of
it. 38 “Its snuffers and their
trays shall be of pure gold. 39 “It shall be made from a talent of pure gold, with all
these utensils. 40 “See that you make them
after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.” - The Lord gives instruction to Moses about how
to make a Menora for the Tabernacle
7.1.
The Menora had no
wood in its composition but was entirely of gold and reveals the divinity of
Christ and Christ as the light of God.
7.2.
The Menora and
the light it provided speaks also of the power to minister and do God’s
will. The seven branches and cups of the
lampstand speak of the Holy Spirit in His work, not so much in the world
(because the lampstand was inside of the Tabernacle and invisible to the
world), but within the church, and these passages reveal those seven aspects of
the Holy Spirit:
7.2.1. Revelation 4:5:
“Out
from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which
are the seven Spirits of God.”
7.2.2. Revelation 5:6:
“And
I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb
standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the
earth.”
7.2.3. Here the seven roles of the Holy Spirit in the church
are given in Isaiah 11:1-2: “Then a shoot will spring
from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of
wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”
7.3.
The Menora was placed opposite of the Table of the
Shewbread and in this way it symbolizes the essential enabling work of the Holy
Spirit in revealing to mankind the truth from God’s Word about Christ as man’s sustenance and sufficiency.
7.4.
The light from the menora also was needed so that the
priests could light the incense and do all of their work inside the Tabernacle,
and this symbolizes the essential work of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our
worship in the church.
8.
CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
We have seen that the Tabernacle is an illustration
of the heavenly place of God’s dwelling, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and a type of Jesus Christ
in the church and the communion of Jesus Christ with all believers.
8.2.
Having seen how that the ark symbolizes the mercy that we
can receive from the Lord through Jesus Christ, then lets come to the table of
the shewbread, having received that forgiveness through the blood of Christ,
and lets fellowship with Christ. Lets
draw close to Him and feed upon Him and allow Him to be our sufficiency for all
that we need.
8.3.
Lets keep in mind
that the Lord knows our names and loves each of His children equally.