The Taberncale PT1

The Tabernacle Part 1

A large part of Exodus (Chapters 25 to 31 and 35 to 40) deals with the construction of the tabernacle of God. In our study of Genesis, we saw the origin of the two streams of false and true religion in Cain and Abel. That finally ends in Revelation as Babylon and Jerusalem. The tabernacle is the seed from which the temple of God came later. It is a picture of the untimate Jerusalem, the Church, the dwelling place of God.

The literal translation of John 1:14 reads this way: “ The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.”

So this Old Testament tabernacle was first of all, a picture of Jesus himself, and then of His body the Church in whom God dwells, and also each of us who are children of God in whom the Holy Ghost dwells.

God was very particular that every part of the tabernacle should be made exactly according to the pattern that He gave Moses (Exodus 25:9). God gave Moses specific instructions about the sizes of the different parts of the tabernacle and the materials to be used for each. Many Christians and Church leaders do not realize the need to do everything in the Church and in their lives also, exactly as the Lord has commanded in His Word. They allow their human understanding often to decide how far to obey God and where to modify His commands to fit their own ideals and traditions.

Moses Had seen the construction of Magnificent pyramids in Egypt. But he did not modify God's simple pattern of the tabernacle to make it more appealing to human eyes. In every detail, he constructed it exactly as the Lord had commanded him (Exodus 39:1-40:33). that was why the glory of God filled it. If Moses had been given this pattern when he was 40 years old, he may have tried to “improve” on God's pattern with his Egyptian wisdom! The tabernacle would certainly have looked more impressive then-but the glory of God would have been absent. This is what has happened in the Church today. Pastors and Clergy have have modified the standards of God's Word to please the world! Our standards have over the years become more and more in line with the worlds standards.

God's thoughts and ways are far higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8,9). Those who do not realize this will always add their human ideas to God's commandments. Only those who are eager for the glory of God to be manifested will seek God's perfect pattern and will for not only the Church as a whole but each individuals life. Our Lord lived his entire life on earth fulfilling minute details of Old Testament prophecies that had been made concerning His birth, written “in the Book” concerning Him (Hebrews 10:7). That was why the glory of the God was manifested in Him always.

When God gave instructions for the construction of the tabernacle in 25:8, He told Moses, “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them”.

This is our primary calling-to be a holy dwelling place for God. All other things-even good things- must be treated as secondary.

If we lose sight of this calling, it will be easy to be occupied with secondary matters like Evangelism, Bible teaching, charity programs, etc. all of which are not only good for a large part of what the Church should be doing. But it must start with the Church and its members being a holy separated dwelling place for God and His Spirit. If this is not so, then we have failed in our primary purpose. Does the Holy Spirit feel at home in your heart? Does God feel at home in your home? In where you meet to worship? Those are the most important questions. Not “How much are you doing for God? Or “How much are you helping others?”

It was when Moses was alone with God on the mountain, fasting and praying for forty days that he saw the pattern for the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:40) If we are in too much of a hurry to wait on God today, we cannot expect to understand God's perfect will and pattern for His Church.

God called Bezalel and Oholiah to build the tabernacle and we see that He gave them all the supernatural abilities that they needed to do this task-through the Holy Spirit (Exodus 31:1-3). This teaches us that if God calls us to build His Church today, He will give us also the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit that we need to complete that work.