Why the Tabernacle is Still ImportantExodus 40

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

If you're anything like me, you've probably read the book of Exodus paying close attention in the first part of the book, as the story of the deliverance of Jacob's descendants from Egypt unfolds.  But once God's people are in the wilderness, and the Lord gives elaborate orders regarding case law and ceremonial law, I find it all too easy to get lost in the details. And as for the tabernacle, with all its specificities, I confess that sometimes I have had trouble concentrating, chapter after chapter. It was only when I was preparing to speak on the Exodus for a women's retreat that I stopped and considered the glory and beauty of these often neglected chapters. 

The Central Message of the Book of Exodus

In order to understand any passage in a book of the Bible, it is necessary to understand the theme of the book. And to do this, we need to understand its structure. In short, the book opens with God's people serving a ruthless king in a foreign land. It then tells of the Lord's deliverance of his chosen people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Moses then receives the law on Mount Sinai, which includes instructions on how to build the tabernacle. A disastrous interruption in the story takes place when the people destined to build a dwelling place for God build a golden calf instead. Yet the Lord, in His grace, spares the nation, through the intercession of Moses, and charges these same men and women to carry out the task to which he had called them. Soon after, the people begin to implement God's plan, which brings us to chapter 40. 

The central message of the book of Exodus is: 
God transforms slaves into his children and reveals his glory so that they may know and serve him. 

Chapter 40 brings the book of Exodus to a dramatic close. In the first verses we read careful instructions for Moses on how to prepare God's house for move-in day. Then the chosen intermediary carries out these instructions to the letter. Finally, the glory of the Lord descends upon the consecrated tent.  

The Tabernacle and the Christian

It's a breathtaking story. But what do we as Christians make of this account? Only after understanding the meaning of each element of the tabernacle for the people standing at the foot of the mountain can we answer this question. If you have always wanted to discover their relationship to your own life, come with me to the desert of Sinai. 

The Holy of Holies

The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant and all the elements of the holy place were to be covered with pure gold, a suitable dressing for such precious objects. Decorated with angels with outstretched wings, the Ark of the Covenant evoked another world. It pointed to the Garden of Eden at the fall, guarded by an angel with a flaming sword. And for us Christians it evokes the consummation, when angels will play an important role in the revelation and execution of God's plan as seen in the book of Revelation. 

The Veil

If we are familiar with one element of the tabernacle, it is the veil. It was designed to prevent people from entering directly into the presence of God. Access was only possible through an intermediary, the High Priest. And this, only once a year (Hebrews 9:7). But when Christ died on the cross, this same veil was torn from top to bottom. When Jesus cried out, "It is finished," all that was necessary to appease God's wrath against sinners was satisfied. The payment was made in full once and for all. 

The Holy Place

Here we find three elements. 

The Table

Placed on the table were 12 loaves of bread for the 12 tribes of Israel. This bread served several purposes.

1. A reminder of the miraculous provision of manna in the desert.
2. A reminder of God's continual provision not only of "daily bread" but also of spiritual nourishment.
3. A sacrifice to the Lord in response to his benevolent provision.
4. A basis for table fellowship in the presence of God, recalling the meal shared by Moses, Aaron, his sons Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders in Exodus 24.

And for us, as believers in the Messiah, they symbolize two more things:

1. Jesus' provision of his own flesh. For our Lord used this same image of bread when he instituted the Lord's Supper.
2. The provision of Scripture, with which we nourish our souls. 

The Lampstand

This lamp, which contained seven candles, was used to illuminate the holy place of the tabernacle for the priests who worked there. Part of the priests' job was to make sure that this lamp never went out. For it represented God's presence among his people, as well as eternal life. For believers in the New Covenant, the lamp points to Christ, who said, "I am the light of the world." Then, in Revelation, we see another brilliant image of the light that is Jesus. 

Revelation 21:23 says, "And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

The Golden Altar of Incense

On a very human level, the incense was used to make the tabernacle smell good. I don't know how often the priests bathed, but a group of guys sweating in a tent in the desert probably benefited from the some aromatherapy! :) But this aesthetic use of incense was of minor importance relative to its spiritual significance. For in the history of redemption, incense refers symbolically to the prayers of God's people. 

Psalm 141.2 says, "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.”

Just as the smoke from the altar of incense was not to be extinguished, the priests were to offer prayers for God's people continually. Again, we see under the Old Covenant that the people depended on an intermediary to obtain forgiveness of sins and access to God. In the New Covenant, we no longer need such an intermediary nor his incense. Because Jesus is both our sacrifice and our priest, we have direct access to the throne of grace.

 

The Courtyard

Now we pass to the elements outside the tabernacle: 

The Altar of Burnt Offerings 

The Holy of Holies was the focal point of God's revealed presence. But the high priest offered sacrifices there only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. For the rest of the year, it was on the altar of burnt offering that the priests performed their work. There they continually offered sacrifices for their sins and for the sins of the people.

Did you notice any piece of furniture missing from the tabernacle? Chairs! There wasn't a single one. The reason for this is that the sacrifices needed to be offered continually, because the sins of the people themselves were continuous. That is why it is all the more remarkable to read this in Hebrews 10:12: 

"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

What the Levitical priests of the Old Covenant could not do, Christ did once and for all for us. And that is why Jesus can sit down forever!

 

The Basin

Aaron and his sons used the basin to wash their hands and feet before entering the tent of meeting "...that they may not die" (Ex 30:18-19). The priests' work was bloody and messy. It was therefore essential that they have a place to wash before entering the Tent of Meeting. But the spiritual significance of this element of the tabernacle and the accompanying rite is clear: purification precedes service.

The washing of hands illustrated the importance of both external and internal purification. In biblical thought, hands represent the person: the actions hands perform come from the heart - either to bless and heal or to shed blood and do evil.

Psalm 24:3-4 says, "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”

Normally, we do not need to wash our hands before entering church (unless the government requires it during a pandemic). If we have trusted in the finished work of Christ, we have already been purified, that is, declared righteous. The waters of baptism are for the believer an outward manifestation of the inner reality that Jesus has already accomplished for us. 

Ephesians 5:25-27 says, "25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Now that we have explored what each individual element of the tabernacle meant to them/then and to us/now, let us finally see the amazing conclusion of the story.

 

The Glory of the Lord in the Cloud

In two simple verses, Moses describes this glorious event in Exodus 40:34-35:

"Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

This cloud was the visible manifestation of the invisible God. It is the same cloud that stood between them and Pharaoh's menacing army in Exodus 14. It is the same cloud they had seen from afar when Moses met God on the mountain top in Exodus 19. And it is the same cloud that had marked the presence of the LORD at the entrance of the small temporary tent of meeting that Moses had pitched outside the camp in Exodus 33.

And finally, in Exodus 40, this cloud is the means by which the Lord showed his people that he had come according to his promise. It was the proof that the gulf that separated the LORD and his people had been completely overcome through God's loving kindness and Moses' faithful intercession. 

Do Christians Have a Tabernacle?

We can trace the theme of God's presence among his people from Genesis to Revelation. It began in the Garden of Eden, where God walked and talked with Adam and Eve. This communion was destroyed when our first parents chose to be like God rather than submit to him and serve him. Exodus 40 marks the return of God's presence among his people for the first time since the Garden. Tragically, however, the unfolding of the nation's history reveals a continuous rebellion that eventually leads to the destruction of the temple and the departure of God's presence.

Hundreds of years of longing follow, during which the faithful remnant prays and waits for the return of the Lord's glorious presence in their midst. And when it finally comes, it does not come in a cloud, but in flesh and blood. John 1:14 says:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In the original language, the translated term "dwelt" is actually "pitched his tabernacle." In Jesus Christ we have a greater tabernacle than the one that was set up in the wilderness. We have seen the glory of the cloud in the face of our precious Savior! So, as we celebrate His incarnation this holiday season, let us remember the many ways in which he has revealed his glorious presence throughout redemptive history, and let us rejoice in the greatest glory of all, that of Jesus, the tabernacle among us.