We always keep Genesis 1-3 closely at hand because, through those chapters, we are able to make sense of intermingled wonders and sorrows both around us and within us. The whole process of creation in Genesis 1 builds toward the LORD’s creation of mankind, male and female, in His image and after His likeness. Even their task upon the earth would reflect God’s creative work. For just as God formed the formless and filled the void, He commanded mankind to fill the earth with more of God’s image and subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures.

Chapter 2 then describes God’s creation of garden in Eden, which we rightly call paradise. Yahweh filled the garden with all kinds of fruit trees for food for the first man and woman. It also held the tree of life, which was in the midst of the garden, and rivers flowed out from the garden into the rest of the world that Adam was tasked with subduing. Yet most importantly, the garden was the place where Yahweh would walk, where His presence could be found.

Yet in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve defile the paradise that God provided for them by eating the only fruit in the garden that the LORD forbid them to eat. Not content with reflecting God’s nature, they desired to become gods themselves, and through their rebellion, they were cast out of the garden and brought sin’s curse upon the world that they were given to rule. Barred from the tree of life, Adam, Eve, and all of their children now die and return to the dust from which God made them.

Again, all of this resonates so deeply with us because, as Tolkien rightly said, “We all long for [Eden], and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still oaked with a sense of ‘exile.'” Marvelously, the rest of the Bible is focused upon how God is restoring and repairing what our own sin has broken and marred.

THE TENT OF MEETING

As we noted last week, Yahweh’s instructions for building the tabernacle began with the most important furnishing, the ark of the testimony, which represented the very presence of God and would be the place upon which the sacrifice of atonement would be made. It then moved outward to describe the table for the bread of the Presence and the golden lampstand. These three items represented the primary furnishing within the only two rooms of the tabernacle: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Continuing the outward movement of the description, the instructions in our present chapter now focus upon the tabernacle itself. Let us first begin by actual instructions given in this chapter, then we will consider the theological significance of the tabernacle as a whole.

Although our eyes may gloss over as we begin to read these instructions, we would do well to remember two things. First, these instructions are not quite as detailed as we might have imagined. In looking at artistic illustrations of the tabernacle, you will quickly find that no two are exactly the same. That is because only the overall details are instructed, while Oholiab and Bezalel (who were the craftsmen in whom God put His Spirit to construct everything) evidently had a measure of artistic freedom.

However, secondly, the instructions that were given do not reveal an overly elaborate and visually stunning tent. Certainly, it was richly furnished and beautifully made, yet it would have been remarkably simple compared to the pagan temples.

As we said of God’s instructions for building altars, this too should shape our understanding of worship as a whole. There is a measure of individual freedom, so long as God’s instructions are carefully followed, yet the overall tenor of worship ought to be simple, beautiful, and obedient.

Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall be the same size. Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another. And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the first set. Likewise you shall make loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second set. Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one another. And you shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to the other with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be a single whole.

Verses 1-6 describe the inner curtains of the tabernacle. They were to be made of linen with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, which were colors that invoked royalty. They were also to have cherubim skillfully worked into them. Thus, from the inside, the priest would be surrounded by cherubim as a reminder that he has entered the tent of God’s earthly presence.

About the size of these curtains, Douglas Stuart writes:

All joined up, the curtain mass that formed the tabernacle roof and sides measured forty-two by sixty feet. Some of this was draped to form side walls and the back wall, so the actual floor space of the tabernacle was forty-five feet by fifteen feet (six hundred and seventy-five square feet). As later described, this floor space was divided in a two-thirds and one-third split into two rooms, the holy place (two-thirds of the floor space, or thirty feet by fifteen feet) and the most holy place (one-third of the floor space, or fifteen feet by fifteen feet). (584-585)

Verses 7-14 then describe the outer curtains.

You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make. The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall be the same size. You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and the sixth curtain you shall double over at the front of the tent. You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.

You shall make fifty clasps of bronze, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together that it may be a single whole. And the part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. And the extra that remains in the length of the curtains, the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and that side, to cover it. And you shall make for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and a covering of goatskins on top.

The first set was made from goats’ hair, and the second set were made from animal skins. The curtains of goats’ hair were slightly larger than the linen curtains in order cover them completely as a protective layer. As verse 14 says, there were actually two outer curtains, one of rams’ skin and the other of goatskin (or more likely dugong or dolphin skin). These two layers of leather would protect the tabernacle from the elements.

You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. [16] Ten cubits shall be the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. [17] There shall be two tenons in each frame, for fitting together. So shall you do for all the frames of the tabernacle. [18] You shall make the frames for the tabernacle: twenty frames for the south side; [19] and forty bases of silver you shall make under the twenty frames, two bases under one frame for its two tenons, and two bases under the next frame for its two tenons; [20] and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side twenty frames, [21] and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one frame, and two bases under the next frame. [22] And for the rear of the tabernacle westward you shall make six frames. [23] And you shall make two frames for corners of the tabernacle in the rear; [24] they shall be separate beneath, but joined at the top, at the first ring. Thus shall it be with both of them; they shall form the two corners. [25] And there shall be eight frames, with their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one frame, and two bases under another frame.

[26] “You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle, [27] and five bars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the frames of the side of the tabernacle at the rear westward. [28] The middle bar, halfway up the frames, shall run from end to end. [29] You shall overlay the frames with gold and shall make their rings of gold for holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

Verses 15-29 give the instructions for the tent’s frame, which was made of upright frames and horizontal crossbars for support. As with the ark and the table for the bread of the Presence, these were to be made of acacia wood and overlayed with gold.

Verses 31-35 describe the veil that would separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. [32] And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, on four bases of silver. [33] And you shall hang the veil from the clasps, and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. [34] You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy Place. [35] And you shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table, and you shall put the table on the north side.

Its design was like the inner curtain. Stuart notes that “it was one long, single curtain, not a divided curtain that could be opened easily. To get past it, one would have to move at least one of the poles at either side and go around it because it was not designed to be gotten past under normal conditions; rather, it provided a barrier past which people could not normally go” (Exodus, 590). Indeed, that was the overall point of the veil. It was more of a wall than a door. It was a barrier more than an entrance.

Lastly, the entrance to the tabernacle is described.

You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. [37] And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bases of bronze for them.

We should note that its bases were made of bronze, which likely reflects that the entrance was the point furthest from the ark. Verse 27 also said that the rear of the tabernacle was westward, which would make the entrance face the east.

THE TRUE & BETTER WAY

Now that we have briefly marched through the instructions given, let us pull back our theological gaze and consider the overall purpose and meaning of the tabernacle. We should begin by emphasizing what the tabernacle was. The Hebrew word miskan means “dwelling place.” Thus, the name of the tent was also a description of its purpose, which we were given in 25:8 when Yahweh told Moses: “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” That is why the tabernacle is so significant. Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt and took them into the wilderness to meet with them at Sinai. But once the tabernacle was complete, God’s glory would leave the mountain and dwell in this tent. As a tent, it could easily be taken apart and carried with them so that God’s presence would go with them through the rest of the wilderness and into Canaan.

Of course, this ultimate purpose of the tabernacle also implies its second yet intimately related function, that is, to be the place where Israel could meet with God. Indeed, this purpose is explicitly stated in its other name: the tent of meeting. Thus, the tabernacle was where God would dwell with His people, and they would meet with Him. If that sounds a bit like how we described Eden earlier, then we are on the right track. G. K. Beale says that “the tabernacle is Eden remixed… the tabernacle sets the dwelling place of God in a sinful context. Eden was created before sin entered the world, and the tabernacle is constructed in the midst of sin in the world” (38-39). Even though both Eden and the tabernacle and the purpose of God dwelling and meeting with His people, Eden was wide open, while the tabernacle was rather small and contained only one entrance.

With that in mind, William McEwen notes three things that the tabernacle represented, and his list isn’t broke, so I won’t try to fix it.

First, the tabernacle was a picture of heaven itself. Verse 30 of our text alludes to this point: “Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain.” This seems to indicate that Moses was not simply given these instructions that have been preserved for us to read in Scripture but was actually shown a model for how it was to be built. Of course, as the author of Hebrews noted, that pattern was a copy of God’s heavenly dwelling place: “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5). Indeed, Beale writes:

The tabernacle was composed of three main parts, and each part represented a major part of the cosmos as first seen in the sanctuary of Eden: (1) the Holy of Holies symbolized the presence of God with his heavenly host in the invisible dimension of the cosmos; (2) the Holy Place in the temple was emblematic of the visible heavens and its light sources; (3) the outer court represented the habitable world where humanity dwelt. (39)

We also saw a similar three-part division in 24:2. Even so, the movement from east to west through the court to the Most Holy Place was a glimpse of returning to Eden, but of course, for the ordinary Israelite, only the outer court could be entered, since only the priests were allowed to enter the actual tabernacle. Even then, only the high priest would be permitted to enter the Most Holy Place, where the ark was located. As Ryken notes:

As the Israelites thought about the tabernacle and its meaning, they were confronted with a hard reality: Most of them were never allowed to go inside. They could see it from a distance, and they knew that God has his dwelling there, but they never even had a chance to see past the door, let alone go inside and meet with God. Everything was concealed under layers of fabric. (804)

But as we will see in the following chapter, a defining feature of both the bronze altar in the outer court and the mercy seat within the Holy of Holies is that they were places for making sacrifices for sin. The tabernacle gave them a glimpse of heaven on earth, but it also served as a reminder of the greatness of their sins that kept them from actually entering God’s presence.

Second, the tabernacle was also a picture of Christ. John’s Gospel begins by describing Jesus as the eternal Word or Logos of God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)

Even before the beginning began, Jesus was with God and was God. Indeed, not one created thing was made without Him. He is the one who made all things, giving life and light to the cosmos through Himself. After describing the ministry of John the Baptist, verse 9 returns to speaking of Jesus, saying:

The true light, which give light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

How did the Creator and Author of life come into the very world He created? Verse 14 is the answer: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Logos who eternally was with God and is Himself God became flesh. Or we might say that He was made flesh, since John uses the same verb (egeneto) that he used in verse 3 of all things and in verse 6 of John the Baptist. J. I. Packer rightly says:

But in fact the real difficulty [of Christianity]… lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of Incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man–that the second person of the Godhead become the “second man” (1 Cor 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, that he took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was human… It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that he profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revolution lie. “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there is no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation. (53)

In becoming flesh, the Word also dwelt among us. Dwelt is the verb form of the Greek word for tabernacle (skene). Thus, we could say: And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. The tabernacle was a glimpse of heaven on earth, but Jesus is heaven come down to earth and living among us. Just as the beauties of the tabernacle were concealed by the plain skins that covered it, our Lord concealed His divine glory by taking same kind of skin, muscle, and bones that you and I have. Indeed, “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). Yet for all to whom the Spirit has given eyes to see, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.

And just as there was only one entrance into the glory of God within the tabernacle, Jesus Himself is only way to return to Eden and meet with God. As He said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). There is no other means of salvation. And as for the veil separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place, Christ’s death tore it in two. Since offering Himself as the perfect and only sacrifice for sin, those who are forgiven in Him no longer have a barrier to God’s presence but a command to draw near to Him.

Yet the good news keeps getting better. Since we are the body of Christ, the tabernacle is also a picture of us, Jesus’ church. In Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul writes:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Just as the tabernacle and our Lord Himself looked plain and often unappealing at first glance, so it is with God’s people. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). And what is that surpassing power? That “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6).

God’s dwelling place is no longer in the midst of His people; it is within His people. There is great significance, therefore, to our regular gathering together for worship. Indeed, notice that Ephesians 2 essentially calls us individual stones in the temple that God is building. Since the temple and the tabernacle served the same functions, we can also adapt the thought to say that we are each individual pieces of the tabernacle that God is constructing. We are each frames, crossbars, and curtains in God’s tabernacle, and each time we gather together, we display a greater reality than we ever could individually.

In Tibet, I saw firsthand the idea of temples being constructed upon the high places. They would be built high upon a mountain, where they could be seen for miles. It was a constant reminder that the gods were high above you, and if you truly wanted them to hear your prayers, you needed to go up to them. Standing beside and within those temples to pray for the Tibetans helped me to see the beauty that our God, the only true God, sends His church into the world as reverse temples. Rather than forcing people to come up to Him for prayer (which would be impossible since He is far more majestic than the greatest mountain), He comes down and is sending His tabernacles into every nation, actively praying for those who do not pray to Him.

Just as the bread of the Presence within the tabernacle was meant to remind the priests of the elders’ meal with God upon Sinai, the Lord’s Supper before us summons us to consider Jesus, the true and better tabernacle. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians 11:26, Paul wrote: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” This bread and this cup are a threefold proclamation of Christ’s perfect sacrifice to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us. Through this bread and cup may we taste and see the goodness of our God who through Christ has tabernacled among us and has now made us into His living tabernacle.