Wouldn’t it be great to meet with God, have Him speak to us and dwell among us? Have you ever wanted to hear from God? God has given us His model, His way of how we are to meet with Him. He even called it the Tabernacle of Meeting just so we’d know what it was for. This series of articles will look into the tabernacle as God’s pattern for meeting with us. We’ll be looking at the various objects in the tabernacle to learn from them God’s requirements for how He wants to meet with us, dwell with us and speak to us. As we learn to start performing our priestly duties, we can come into His tabernacle and minister to Him according to His pattern.
Ex 25:8-9 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.
Ex 25:40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.
Ex 25:22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
Ex 29:42-45 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before יהוה, where I will meet you to speak with you. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
Note: Throughout this series, whenever we find the name of God in scripture, we have put in the Hebrew characters of His name יהוה not His title “LORD”.
When Moses went up Mount Sinai, God showed him His heavenly temple and instructed Moses to make a replica on earth called the tabernacle, “according to the pattern” of the heavenly temple. It was sectioned into two areas, the holy place and the Most Holy Place containing various items. The holy place contained a lampstand with seven lamps, a table of showbread and a table of incense. The Most Holy Place contained the ark of the Testimony and a golden censer of incense.
Heb 9:2-4 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;
The Bible is an incredible book where many different learnings and teachings can come from a single passage of scripture, and they can all be true and non-contradictory at the same time. For example the story of the exodus of Israel from Egypt is at the same time an historical story, a picture of us getting saved and leaving the world of sin (Egypt) behind, a picture of the atoning work of Christ as the Passover lamb, and on and on it goes. All these learnings have different applications and yet are all simultaneously true and without contradiction.
One could spend a lifetime studying the tabernacle as it has so many different lessons for us. This series is focusing on the tabernacle as God’s blueprint for how we can meet with Him, having Him dwell with us and speak to us. It is one of many learnings we can get from the tabernacle.
The Bible explains the Tabernacle
We can use the principle that scripture interprets scripture to help us better understand the tabernacle. In the book of Revelation John has a vision where he is taken into the heavenly temple, and as he sees the same originals Moses saw, the things the pattern was taken from, and so he starts explaining the items in the tabernacle. This series explores John’s revelations about the tabernacle to better understand God’s requirements for meeting with us.
Ex 26:30 And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.
God doesn’t just want us to understand His meeting place with us He wants to dwell among us, meet with us and speak with us in it – but according to His pattern. He wants us to raise up His Tabernacle of Meeting.
Amos 9:11-12 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” says יהוה who does this thing.
Acts 15:14-17 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:
‘AFTER THIS I WILL RETURN AND WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH HAS FALLEN DOWN; I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL SET IT UP; SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK יהוה, EVEN ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME, SAYS יהוה WHO DOES ALL THESE THINGS.’
God wants to dwell among us, meet with us and speak with us. He gave us a pattern of how to do this, but the pattern has fallen down. We need to go back and raise up the Tabernacle of Meeting according to its pattern.
Let’s start our discussion with God Himself.
The Ark of the Testimony and the Mercy Seat
The very presence of God on earth was in the Most Holy Place. It is the most sacred place on the planet. It’s here that He meets with us.
Ex 26:33 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.
Heb 9:3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
Ex 25:21-22 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
The Most Holy Place is at the rear area of the tabernacle. It contains the Ark of the Testimony with the Mercy Seat on top of it. It was the holiest place on earth containing the very presence of God. Nothing profane, imperfect or even slightly unclean could enter there because the holy presence of God is there.
The word Ark denotes a chest and is symbolic of things close to one’s heart. So what was holy enough that God would place it in his heart?
Ex 25:16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony (the ten commandments) which I will give you.
Heb 9:4 …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;
God instructed that the 10 Commandments (representing the Torah) which He had written with His own finger would go into the Ark. The only other things in the Ark were a golden pot containing manna and Aaron’s rod which had budded, both things God had touched and so were holy (set apart).
One more thing makes it into the Most Holy Place…
Deut 31:24-26 So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of יהוה, saying: “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of יהוה your God, that it may be there as a witness against you;”
Not only were the 10 Commandments inside the ark, the entire written Torah was placed next to the ark in the Most Holy Place. This shows the incredible importance and holiness of the Torah. We cannot take this lightly as it is clearly very close to God’s heart, residing in His very presence (who might that be?)
Rom 7:12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
The law is both in the ark and before it. This is a picture of Yeshua who is both God and our great High Priest.
Heb 8:1-2 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which יהוה erected, and not man.
Heb 9:24 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;
So in the holy of holies we have the presence of God and we have Yeshua (who is both God and our representative). There is also the golden censor containing incense – the prayers of the saints.
Rev 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Our next article will look at the Seven Lamps and the Showbread
1 comment
Great revelations