Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for bringing us together to study Your Word. As we study the Tabernacle, help us see beyond the tent, the furniture, the sacrifices, and the rituals. Help us see Your holiness, Your mercy, Your grace, and Your desire to dwell among Your people.

Thank You that although we are sinners and cannot approach You on our own righteousness, You provided a way for us to come near through Jesus Christ. Open our hearts and our minds to understand how the Tabernacle points us to Christ—our perfect sacrifice, our Savior, and the One who brings us into Your presence.

Teach us not only to know Your Word but to pursue intimacy with You. May Your Holy Spirit convict us of sin, cleanse us, transform us, and help us walk in holiness. As we study today, may we see Jesus more clearly and love You more deeply.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

The Bible gives remarkable attention to the Tabernacle, with almost fifty chapters devoted to its construction, worship, priesthood, sacrifices, and significance. This is not accidental. The Ten Commandments reveal the holiness of God and His standard for His people, while the Tabernacle reveals God’s provision for sinful people to approach a holy God. The Law tells us what God requires; the Tabernacle shows us how God provides a way for sinners to come into His presence. In this sense, the Tabernacle is a powerful picture of the gospel hidden in the Old Testament. We understand its full significance when we connect it to the New Testament, because what was pictured in the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution.

The Tabernacle began with God’s initiative. He instructed Moses to receive contributions from the people, but the giving was to come from those whose hearts were moved. Giving to God was not merely an obligation; it was a privilege to participate in what God was doing. Everything needed for the Tabernacle ultimately came from God, yet He graciously allowed His people to become partners in His work. This reminds us that God does not need us, but He gives us the privilege of serving Him. When God calls us to participate, our response should come from a willing and grateful heart.

3 This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, 4 blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, 5 rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, 6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

The purpose of the Tabernacle was not simply to provide a place of worship. God said, “that I may dwell among them.” God desired to be present with His people. He did not merely want to save them from Egypt and then remain distant from them. He wanted a relationship with them. This reveals something about the heart of God: God does not merely want to give us blessings; He wants to give us Himself. People often pursue money, success, fame, position, power, and possessions, but the greatest pursuit is intimacy with God. God is the greatest treasure. If we have God, everything else is ultimately a bonus; but if we have everything and do not have God, we have missed what matters most.

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.

God Himself provided the pattern for the Tabernacle. Moses was not free to design his own way of approaching God. God was the architect, designer, and initiator. This teaches us an important spiritual principle: we cannot decide for ourselves how to approach a holy God. God must reveal the way. Humanity cannot invent its own path to God. God Himself provides the way, and ultimately that way is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

EXODUS 25

HEBREWS 8:5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”

The Old Testament Tabernacle pointed beyond itself to a greater spiritual reality. Therefore, the Tabernacle should not be studied merely as an ancient structure. Its furniture, sacrifices, priesthood, blood, cleansing, and entrance all point us toward Christ and His work. We can say that the New Testament is the explanation of what the Old Testament was pointing toward. The Old Testament contains the shadows; the New Testament reveals the substance.

HEBREWS 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

The Bible is one complete story, and God's revelation is progressive. God spoke through the prophets in many portions and in many ways, but ultimately He spoke through His Son. Therefore, when we study the Tabernacle, we should ask, “How does this point me to Christ?” The answer is that the entire biblical story moves toward Jesus—the One who fulfills what the Tabernacle represented.

JOHN 1:14 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.

Jesus is God dwelling among His people. The God who once manifested His presence in the Tabernacle came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. The Tabernacle pointed to God's desire to dwell among His people, and Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that desire. In Christ, God did not merely visit humanity; God came near to us.

EXODUS 29:43 I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. 45 I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.

Again, God declares His desire to dwell among His people. The goal of the Tabernacle was relationship. God wanted Israel to know Him as their God and to experience His presence. The same God who said, “I will dwell among them,” ultimately fulfills this promise through Christ and, by the Holy Spirit, dwells in believers. The great story of Scripture is therefore not simply about people trying to find God. It is also about God pursuing people so that He can dwell with them.

EXODUS 33:9 Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses... 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend…

Moses gives us an example of someone who pursued intimacy with God. He did not treat God's presence as something ordinary or unimportant. He went into the tent, and God spoke with him. The phrase “face to face” communicates extraordinary closeness and fellowship. This should challenge us. Christianity is not merely about knowing information about God; it is about knowing God. God is pursuing us, but our response should also be to pursue Him. Like Moses, we should desire His presence, His voice, His Word, and fellowship with Him.

EXODUS 12:35 Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request…

Even the materials used for the Tabernacle demonstrate God's provision. Before Israel left Egypt, God gave them favor, and they received silver, gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. What God wanted to accomplish, He provided for. The people participated, but God was ultimately the Provider. This gives us confidence in serving Him: when God gives us an assignment, He also provides what is necessary for His purposes to be accomplished. We have the privilege of partnering with Him, but the resources and the opportunity ultimately come from Him.

I. OUTER COURT

The Tabernacle had three major areas: the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. As we move through the Tabernacle, we see a picture of God's provision for sinners to approach Him. The movement is from the outside toward the presence of God.

a. The Gate.

The first thing we encounter is the gate. There was one entrance into the Tabernacle. A person could not enter from wherever he wanted. There was one prescribed way.

JOHN 10:9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Jesus identifies Himself as the door. The single entrance of the Tabernacle points us toward the exclusivity of Christ. There is one way into God's presence, and that way is Jesus. Many people are looking for rest, peace, forgiveness, and meaning, but they will never find them by trying to create their own way to God. Jesus is the door.

JOHN 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We do not come to the Father through good works, religion, morality, achievement, or human effort. We come through Christ. The gate of the Tabernacle points us to the first essential truth of the gospel: if we want to approach God, we must come through Jesus.

b. The Altar.

After entering the gate, the sinner encountered the bronze altar. It was the largest piece of furniture in the Outer Court, and it was associated with sacrifice, death, blood, and atonement. This teaches us that sinful humanity cannot casually approach a holy God. Sin must be dealt with.

LEVITICUS 4:22 ‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the Lord his God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty, 23 if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a male without defect.

The sacrifice had to be unblemished. The sinner could not simply bring anything. The sacrifice had to meet God's standard.

Then the sinner laid his hand on the animal before it was killed. This pictured substitution. The innocent animal represented the guilty sinner. The animal died in the sinner's place.

LEVITICUS 4:24 He shall lay his hand on the head of the male goat and slay it in the place where they slay the burnt offering before the Lord; it is a sin offering.

The animal was killed because sin is serious. The altar teaches us that forgiveness is costly. The sinner deserved death, but God provided a substitute. The sacrifice took the place of the sinner.

This points directly to Jesus Christ. He is the perfect and final Substitute who took our place.

LEVITICUS 4:25 Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 …Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.

Blood was central to the sacrificial system because the sacrifice involved the giving of life. Atonement meant that the penalty associated with sin was dealt with through the God-appointed sacrifice.

LEVITICUS 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

The animal's life was given as a substitute for the sinner. This points forward to the greater sacrifice of Christ, whose precious blood would provide the final and complete atonement.

HEBREW 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

The seriousness of sin is seen in the necessity of sacrifice. Sin cannot simply be ignored. God's justice requires that sin be dealt with. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were preparing God's people to understand the seriousness of sin and the necessity of a substitute.

ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin deserves death, but God offers life as a gift through Christ. This is the heart of grace. We deserve judgment, but God provides salvation. The altar therefore points us toward the cross, where Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for sinners.

HEBREW 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near... 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The animal sacrifices were never the final solution. They were shadows pointing to something greater. Bulls and goats could not permanently remove sin. The Old Testament sacrificial system was preparing humanity for Christ.

JOHN 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God. All those sacrifices were pointing forward to Him. Jesus is the unblemished Substitute. He is the One who takes away sin. What the animal sacrifices could only picture, Jesus accomplished.

HEBREW 10:9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The old sacrificial system is replaced by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. Jesus did not need to die repeatedly. His sacrifice was sufficient. “Once for all” means that Christ's sacrifice is complete and final. Our salvation does not depend on continually offering sacrifices because Jesus has already offered Himself.

1 PETER 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Our redemption did not come through material wealth. We were purchased by something infinitely more valuable—the precious blood of Christ. Jesus fulfills the picture of the unblemished and spotless lamb. The altar therefore brings us to the cross, where God's justice and God's grace meet.

c. The Bronze Laver.

After the altar came the bronze laver. The priests had to wash before entering the tent or ministering before God.

EXODUS 30:19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it; 20 when they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they will not die; or when they approach the altar to minister, by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to the Lord.

The laver reminds us that approaching God involves cleansing. The altar points to the payment for sin, while the laver points toward the cleansing and ongoing holiness of God's people.

This helps us understand two dimensions of sanctification. First is our positional sanctification. When we come to Christ through faith, we are forgiven and accepted because of what Jesus has done. Salvation is by grace through faith. Our standing before God rests on Christ's finished work.

But there is also practical sanctification. After being saved, God calls us to live differently. Salvation is not only about where we stand before God; it is also about how we live before God. The Holy Spirit works in us, giving us both the desire and the power to become more like Christ.

HEBREWS 12:14 Pursue …sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

We are called to pursue holiness. We do not pursue holiness in order to earn salvation; we pursue holiness because we have been saved. Grace does not give us permission to remain unchanged. Grace transforms us.

1 JOHN 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

If we truly know Christ and love Him, our lives should increasingly reflect Him. Our relationship with Jesus should affect the way we speak, think, work, treat people, use our bodies, handle money, and respond to temptation. If we say we abide in Christ, we should walk as Christ walked.

EPHESIANS 5:26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

God's Word has a cleansing effect on our lives. The Word reveals what is right and wrong, exposes sin, corrects us, and teaches us how to live. This is why practical sanctification requires regular exposure to Scripture. We cannot expect to become more like Christ while neglecting the Word that reveals Christ to us.

PSALM 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.

Purity is connected to God's Word. If we want our lives to be clean before God, we must allow His Word to shape our thoughts, desires, decisions, and behavior. The Word continually washes our minds and redirects our lives toward God's standards.

II. THE TABERNACLE IS NOW CONNECTED TO US

The message of the Tabernacle does not end with an ancient tent. The New Testament reveals something extraordinary: God's dwelling place is now His people.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle moved when Israel moved. God's presence was associated with the Tabernacle in the midst of His people. In the New Testament, something even greater has happened: the Holy Spirit dwells in believers. We are now God's temple.

This means God's presence is not merely something we visit on a particular day or in a particular building. Through the Holy Spirit, God dwells in His people. Wherever we go, we carry the testimony that we belong to Him.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Because we are God's dwelling place, our bodies matter to God. Paul does not merely tell believers to resist sexual immorality; he says to flee from it. There are temptations we confront and resist, but there are also temptations from which we must run.

The reason is profound: we are not our own. We have been bought with a price. The price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, our bodies, our minds, our words, our relationships, and our choices should bring glory to God.

The Tabernacle ultimately brings us from the holiness of God, to the seriousness of sin, to the provision of sacrifice, to the cleansing of God's people, and finally to the presence of God dwelling within us. The gate points to Christ. The altar points to Christ's sacrifice. The laver points toward cleansing and sanctification. The entire Tabernacle points us to the greater reality fulfilled in Jesus.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to us through the Tabernacle that You desire to dwell among Your people. Thank You that what was pictured in the Old Testament has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Thank You for the gate, which reminds us that Jesus is the way to You; for the altar, which reminds us of His perfect sacrifice and precious blood; and for the laver, which reminds us that You call us to continual cleansing and sanctification.

Lord Jesus, thank You that You gave Yourself once for all for our sins. We know that we cannot earn our salvation. It is Your grace and Your mercy that bring us near to God.

Holy Spirit, because You dwell in us, help us remember that our bodies are Your temple. Give us strength to flee from sin, pursue holiness, obey Your Word, and glorify God in our bodies and in everything we do.

Father, may our greatest pursuit not be money, success, position, or possessions, but Your presence. Help us to know You, love You, walk with You, and serve You. May our lives become a testimony that You truly dwell among Your people.

We give You all the glory, honor, and praise.

In the precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our perfect Lamb,

Amen.

The content of this article is adapted from the source below:

Pursue Intimacy with The Holy God

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By God’s grace, this website, The Message of God, was created to share His Word, encourage others in their faith, and lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. God has uniquely designed and equipped every believer to take part in His work, and this website is one small expression of that calling.

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