Sermon series: FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM

Subject: The Tabernacle - The Place of Worship

Exodus 24:12-25:9
"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."
So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.
And he said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them."
Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days.
And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights."

Exodus 25:1-9
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.
And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair;
ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood;
oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it."

Exodus 26:30—37
"And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.
You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.

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You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.
You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy.
You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.
You shall make a screen for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver.
And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, their hooks shall be gold, and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them."

Exodus 40:1-3
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of tent of meeting.
You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil.
You shall bring in the table and arrange the things that are to be set in order on it..."

From the beginning of chapter 25 of Exodus to the end of chapter 40--excepting the important parenthesis in 32-34--the Holy Spirit has given us a detailed description of the Tabernacle, its structure, furniture, and priesthood. It is a fact worthy of our closest and fullest consideration that more space is devoted to an account of the Tabernacle than to any other single object or subject treated of Holy Writ. Its courts, its furniture, and its ritual are described with a surprising particularity of detail. Two chapters suffice for a record of God's work in creating and fitting this earth for human habitation, whereas ten chapters are needed to tell us about the Tabernacle. The purpose of our sermon series is to take the Old Testament stories and events and

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patterns and symbols and see how these glorious truths find their fulfillment in our New Testament doctrines that make up our Christian faith.
The Tabernacle is one of the most important and instructive types and patterns. The writer of Hebrews tells us: "Then, indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to conscience-concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation." (Hebrews 9:1-12).
The Tabernacle has no fewer than three meanings. In the first place, the tabernacle is a type, a visible illustration, of that heavenly place in which God has His dwelling.
"Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things

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themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another--
He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him he will appear a second time, apart from sins, for salvation." (Hebrews 9:23-28)
The Tabernacle can have a second meaning--namely, it is a type of 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 Christ with all believers.
The Tabernacle--a type of God's dwelling place. There is a Sanctuary, wherein is the special residence and manifestation of the glorious presence of God! Solomon, although he confesses that the heavens of heavens cannot contain God, yet prays that the Lord may hear in heaven His dwelling place (2 Chronicles 6).
Jeremiah testifies, "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary" (17:12).
The visions of Ezekiel also bring before us the heavens opened and the likeness of a throne, and the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord; the likeness as the appearance of a man above the throne (1:26). Almost all expressions which are employed in describing the significance of the Tabernacle are also used in reference to Heaven.
The Tabernacle is a type of the Lord Jesus Himself, particularly of Him here on earth during the days of His flesh. Just as the Tabernacle was Jehovah's dwelling-place in the midst of Israel so are we told that "God was in Christ reconciling a world unto Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19); and again, "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).
The Tabernacle was not something which originated in the minds of Israel, or even of Moses, but was designed by God Himself! So the Manhood of Christ, which enshrined His Deity, was not begotten by man--"A body hast

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Thou prepared for Me" (Hebrews 10:5). "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we actually saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, lovingkindness) and truth." (John 1:14 Amplified)
At the Tabernacle in the wilderness, there man and God met! The ark of the covenant was not merely the throne where God manifested Himself in His holiness, but it was also the throne of relationship with His people. In all the offerings and sacrifices God was manifested; just as regards sin, merciful as regards the sinner; there also God and sinner met. So, throughout the tabernacle there was the manifestation of God in order to bring Israel into communion with Himself.
In the Tabernacle man's fellowship with God was symbolized through manifold mediations, sacrifices, offerings. But in Jesus we have the perfect and eternal fulfillment.
Revelation 21:3: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."
The key to the Tabernacle, then, is Christ! As a whole and in each of its parts the Tabernacle foreshadowed the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each detail in it typified some aspect of His ministry or some excellency of His person.
The Tabernacle was a temporary appointment. In this it differed from the temple of Solomon, which was a permanent structure. The Tabernacle was simply a tent, a temporary convenience, something that was suited to be moved about from place to place during the journeyings of the children of Israel.
So it was when our blessed Lord tabernacled here among men. His stay was but a brief one--less than forty years; and, like the type, He abode not long in any one place, but was constantly on the move, unwearied in the activity of His love.
The Tabernacle was mean, humble, and unattractive in outward appearance. Altogether unlike the costly and magnificent temple of Solomon there was nothing in the externals of the wilderness Tabernacle to please the carnal eye. Nothing but plain boards and skins! So it was at the Incarnation of Jesus.
The Divine majesty of our Lord was hidden beneath the veil of flesh. He came, unattended by any imposing retinue of angels. To the unbelieving gaze of Israel He had no form or comeliness; and when they beheld Him their unanointed eyes saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him.

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"Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him." (Isaiah 53:1-3)
The Tabernacle in the wilderness had but one door. The outer court, with its solid walls of white curtains, was pierced by one gate only; telling us, there is, but one way into the presence of the Holy God. How this reminds us of the words of that One who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). "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).
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)
The Tabernacle in the wilderness was the place where sacrifice was made. In its outer court stood the brazen altar, to which the animals were brought, and on which they were slain. There the blood was shed and atonement was made for sin. So it was with the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled in His own person the typical significance of the brazen altar, as of every piece of the Tabernacle furniture. The body in which he tabernacled on earth was nailed to the cruel cross. The cross was the altar upon which God’s Lamb was slain, where His precious blood was shed, and where complete atonement was made for sin.
The Tabernacle in the wilderness was the place where the Law was preserved. The first two tablets of stone, on which Jehovah had inscribed the Ten Commandments were broken (Exodus 32:19); but the second set were deposited in the ark in the Tabernacle for safe keeping (Deuteronomy 10:2—5). How this again speaks to us of Christ! He it was that said, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me; I delight to do Thy will, O My God: Yea, Thy Law is within My heart" (Psalm 40:8). Through His perfect life He preserved in thought, word and deed the Divine Decalogue, honoring and magnifying God’s Law! Thus we see how fully and how perfectly the Tabernacle of old foreshadowed the person of our blessed Savior!