Two weeks ago we thought about the special freewill offering God ordered for the work of building the tent of meeting. But just what was this tent of meeting? You may know it by the older name of the Tabernacle. In earlier times many Baptist Churches and Free Churches were given the name of Tabernacle. The tent of meeting, the Tabernacle, is mentioned 139 times in 129 verses of the Old Testament. Since its construction is the subject of no less than six chapters of the Book of Exodus, from chapter 35 through to chapter 40, we ought to spend a little time explaining what the tabernacle was.
The tabernacle was a large tent 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. (Pictures) It had a frame made from wood overlaid with gold. The roof and the entrance were made of cloth and animal skins. The tabernacle was surrounded by an outer courtyard which contained an altar for burned offerings and a bowl for ritual washing. (Plan 1)
First inside the tabernacle itself was a large room called the Holy Place. (Plan 2) It contained a number of religious objects: a table on which was placed the Bread of Presence, (the Shewbread), a Golden Candlestick and an altar for burning incense. Further in, separated from the Holy Place by a veil, there was the Holy of Holies. This room was a perfect cube and it contained the Ark of the Covenant.
The Tabernacle, or tent of meeting, was the physical centre of the faith and the religion of the Israelites from the time God created his holy nation at Mount Sinai until they took possession of the Promised Land. It served as a portable sanctuary and the Israelites viewed it as the place where God dwelt among wherever they camped them all through their wanderings in the wilderness. After they took possession of Canaan, the Tabernacle was moved from Shiloh, to Nob and to Gibeon, until eventually Solomon brought the Tabernacle into the Temple which he had built in Jerusalem.
The name itself means simply “dwelling”. It occurs in various other phrases such as the dwelling place of God or the dwelling place of the covenant or the dwelling of the tent of meeting or the dwelling place of God. It is also referred to as the Holy Place, or the House of the LORD, the house of Yahweh. We cannot overestimate how significant the Tabernacle was to the life and faith of the Israelites.
The Tabernacle foreshadowed Solomon’s Temple, which in turn symbolically foreshadows the church. So some preachers, especially in earlier times, go to great lengths to give profound meanings to every detail of the Tabernacle. You will probably be very relieved that I am not going to do that this morning. Basically, I don’t think that is what these chapters have to say to us today. Six chapters are given over to describing precisely how the Tabernacle and all the holy objects it contained were to be constructed. From those great details, I understand that God was indeed concerned about every aspect of the Tabernacle, but that doesn’t mean that each of those chapters deserve sermon today. I believe those details were only important and relevant for the Israelites who were actually building the Tabernacle. The underlying message is that God does care about any buildings we meet in to worship him.
We also noted two weeks ago that the Tabernacle was constructed with materials which came from a freewill offering of the Israelites. Which tells me that it is acceptable to God to take up an offering for church buildings. Although there is something else quite interesting to say very briefly about that offering from Exodus 36,
Exodus 36:3 … And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, ‘The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.’
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: ‘No man or wman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.’ And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
Not only did God through Moses invite the people to make a freewill offering to build the Tabernacle. He also commanded them to stop giving once they had enough! There is an important principle for churches today in there somewhere as well.
But for this morning there are three more significant things about the Tabernacle I want to pick out of the last six chapters of Exodus chapters. And the first is this.
The builders of the Tabernacle were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
As we read in our reading this morning.
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, ‘See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.
We find the Spirit of God mentioned in the very first verse of the Bible when God spoke into the darkness, “Let there be light,” and there was light. We then read about the Spirit of God working in the life of Joseph, giving him discernment and wisdom to interpret dreams and to prevent disaster when the seven years of famine were going to strike Egypt. The next mention of the Spirit of God was here in Exodus 35 inspiring Bezalel with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills …. (and also) the ability to teach others.
The construction of the Tabernacle was very important for the faith and religion of Israel. So important that God the Holy Spirit worked through Bezalel to ensure the work was done to the highest of standards. This is significant for our Christian lives and in our service for God too. Because it reminds us that God can take all kinds of gifts and skills and use them for his glory and in his service. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not just prophecy and teaching and speaking in tongues. They are not just administration and giving alms or even the very general category of serving in the church and in the world. The Holy Spirit inspired Bezalel with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.
This shows us that whatever skills we have, whatever experience we have, whatever training we have, whatever gifts we have in whatever areas of life, we can offer those to God for his to use for his glory. God the Holy Spirit can take our gifts and use them for God’s glory. We may not feel we have anything to offer to God. But God can use any of us, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit which can accomplish great things in and through the lives of believers who give their lives to God. Day by day, we all need to offer our lives to God for him to use for his glory.
Some preachers especially in previous generations would go on to talk about all the objects in the Tabernacle. The bowl for ritual washing and the altar for burnt offerings in the outer courtyard. The Table for the Bread of the Presence, the Golden Lampstand and the altar for burning incense inside the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. All the garments for the priests, the ephod and the breastplate. And the significance of the veil which separated the larger room the Holy Place from the inner room the Most Holy Place. I won’t do that. Instead I only want to talk next about the most important object which was kept in the Most Holy Place, the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God dwelt among his people
Exodus 37:1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 2 He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold moulding around it. … 6 He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upwards, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking towards the cover.
(Picture of the Ark) Forget anything you think you may know from Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Ark of the Covenant, sometimes called the Ark of the Testimony, was an ornately decorated gold-plated wooden box containing the two stone tablets on which God had written the commandments. It also carried Aaron’s rod and a jar containing some manna. The lid was decorated with two gold cherubim and we read that God spoke to Moses from between the cherubim. The Ark was the supreme symbol of God’s presence on earth in the midst of his chosen people. It was carried by priests using two long poles because it was so holy that if anybody touched the Ark they would be struck dead. The Ark was carried in front of the Israelites through the forty years they wandered through the wilderness, and then in the following years when they were taking possession of the Promised Land. God’s presence kept his chosen people safe and gave them victory in battle.
So, for the Israelites God’s presence was located among them in the middle of their camp in the Tabernacle, and especially in the Ark of the Covenant. The Tabernacle foreshadowed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and once that was built the Israelites believed that God was especially present there. Of course, as Christians we don’t look at God that way.
As Christians we believe that God is equally present everywhere. We don’t think that God is any more present in our church buildings than he his anywhere else on earth. So the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant certainly do not point forward to our church buildings, to cathedrals or to local church buildings or to any other religious buildings. Instead we believe that the Tabernacle and the Ark point forward to two things.
Firstly, they look forward to Jesus himself.
John 1:14 says, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Greek word for “made his dwelling” could equally mean “pitched his tent among us” and the same word is the root word for the tabernacle or dwelling place in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. We could even translate, “the word became a human being and tabernacled among us.” In the same way as God was especially present to Israel in the tabernacle, even more God was present in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
John 1 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Colossians 1 describes Jesus as “the visible image of the invisible God” and Hebrews 1 says “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
So the tabernacle foreshadows Jesus as the presence and the supreme revelation of God in the world. But it also foreshadows the church which is described as the body of Christ and also a spiritual building which embodies the presence of God in the world.
1 Peter 2 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
So the tabernacle does not foreshadow church buildings in any way. Instead it points forward to the people of God who make up the church. God lives in us and among us by his Holy Spirit. Even in Moses’ day, the tent which was the tabernacle actually meant nothing in and of itself. Even the ark of the covenant as a sacred object was insignificant. Here is the third thing I want us to understand. What actually mattered both in the tabernacle and in the ark was the presence of God and the activity of the Holy Spirit.
In Exodus chapter 40 we read that Moses inspected the Tabernacle and saw that it had been constructed just as God had commanded, and he blessed it. Everything was anointed with oil and Moses presented burnt offerings and grain offerings. Incense was burned, Moses and Aaron and the priests ritually washed their hands and feet. And this is what happened next
Exodus 40 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
The Tabernacle and all its sacred objects and even the Ark of the Covenant had no power in themselves. All that mattered was the presence and the glory of God. And so it was throughout the forty years of wandering in the wilderness and in the centuries to follow. The only important thing was the presence of God among his chosen people.
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.
So the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was the place where people went to meet with God, to hear God speak and to find forgiveness by offering sacrifices. The tabernacle pointed forward to the Temple in Jerusalem. But there is no need for a tabernacle or a temple any more. Both the Tabernacle and the Temple foreshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word who became a human being and dwelt among us for us and for our salvation. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. As the glory of God shone around the Tabernacle, so the glory of God was supremely revealed in Jesus Christ. People met with God in Jesus and found salvation through him. And the tabernacle also pointed forward to us, to you and me. God is not especially present in our church buildings. But God IS especially present in the people of God, in the church which is the Body of Christ and the spiritual temple where God dwells today by his Holy Spirit. God is present in each of our lives separately, but God is especially present when we gather together as God’s people. Not the church building, but the believers who make up the church, are now the place where people can come to meet God. We, the church, are now the place where people can experience God’s love and find forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ living among us. That is our calling and our destiny. May God help us to live up to what he wants his church to be.