The tabernacle was set up as the basic principle of worship in Israel

1. The tabernacle in general as a part of the ordinances or the spiritual code of the Mosaic law. The tabernacle is a picture of the incarnate person of Jesus Christ, the unique high priest, the unique saviour, the unique person. The tabernacle in scripture often speaks of the human body, as in 2 Corinthians 5:1,4. It also speaks in terms of a representation of something, as in Hebrews 9:1-11. The tabernacle in Israel, according to Exodus 25:1-9, was specified as God’s dwelling place and the whole concept was the grace principle, God fellowshipping with men. The tabernacle represents the place where we meet the God of heaven. It is God fellowshipping with man and man fellowshipping with God on the basis of salvation. The tabernacle reminds us in a general way that nothing was made by guess or by the will of man or by the plan of man. It was strictly by divine design.

In the 25th chapter of Exodus where the specifications are all given it is strictly what God says and there is no guess work. And so it is with Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine doesn’t put anything in the area of speculation of guess work, it is all laid out very perfectly for us under the principle of grace. God does the work, we stand by and enjoy the benefits.

The tabernacle is by way of application a picture of the believer in union with Christ. Remember that only a priest could enter the tabernacle. Today every believer is a priest, every believer is inside the tent. And while the Jews didn’t know it every time a Levitical priest went inside it was a shadow of things about to come, the universal priesthood of the royal family in the Church Age. The principle of the specifications of the tabernacle: Everything is given in great detail as a reminder also that God’s plan is unchanged. God’s plan for man has existed long before we existed. And God has a plan for your life, and that plan is older than you are. That plan means simply this. If God has a plan for your life, and if that plan is older than you are and existed long before you did, what are you worried about? God knew every problem you would ever have and God has made provision for it. The tabernacle represents the plan of God, the decree of God. And the principle of God’s plan is unchanged.

The tabernacle was divided into three parts. There was the outer court which represented the earth. Then there was the holy place and then the holy of holies. The holy place represents heaven as it relates to our experience, and the holy of holies represents the very presence of God, the very throne room of God. All of the articles of furniture have great significance.

2. The location of the tabernacle. It was located in the very centre of the camp. And that is important. All around the tabernacle we have tribes of Israel: three tribes to the north, three to the south, three tribes west and three east. That should be a reminder of something. All of us spend time on the outer periphery — north, south, east, or west. All spend time on the peripheral activities but the thing that is most important is Bible doctrine. That is the message of the location of the tabernacle. Your life is nothing without doctrine in the soul, and the fact that the tabernacle represents doctrine as the thinking of Christ, and the fact that it is located in the centre of the bivouac of Israel is extremely important. It is a reminder of the importance of Bible doctrine.

3. Exodus 25, one of several passage dealing with the specifications of the tabernacle, begins by specifying not the outer court as we would but it gives the specifications of the holy of holies. This is to remind us that salvation starts with God and not with man. The first specs that are given in Exodus 25 deal with the holy of holies which represents heaven and the presence of God, and all blessing comes from God, and God did the initiating in grace. The first thing to be described is the holy of holies because in grace God initiates everything.

4. The court is a picture of the earth. It was a perfect oblong, 100 cubits by 50 cubits. God specified exactly what it would be. If we reduce it to English measure it was 175 feet long, 87.5 feet wide, and 8 feet nine inches high. It was always that way and it never changed, a reminder of the fact that God never changes. That is why Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In building the outer court there are 60 pillars of brass - not 59. The 60 pillars have to have 60 brass sockets — brass, not gold. There were 20 pillars on the north and on the south, ten on the east and on the west. All pillars were connected by the bar of silver. Hanging upon the pillars were 490 feet of fine twined line, colour white except the gate which was blue. There is always a right place to enter and the fact that you enter where it is blue is a reminder that there is only one way to be saved. There are many lessons which come out of this. For example, the brass sockets: the brass speaks of sin and its penalty. The brass pillar is the cross: Christ judged for our sins. The white linen is for the righteousness of Christ, and once you walk through the blue gate you’re behind the white linen which means imputation and justification. Throughout the tabernacle brass always represented judgement - Christ being judged for us, or our spiritual death. Silver always speaks of redemption. While linen speaks of the +R of God, His perfect righteousness. The gate is a reminder the Christ is the only way of salvation. It was 35 feet wide. It was specified — not 34 feet, not 32. God provides exact specifications for everything, including eternal salvation.

To go through the gate all you had to do was push on the blue, and there were three other colours that you passed by on the way in. The blue speaks of the deity of Christ. The next colour as you were going in was purple which speaks of the royalty of Christ, the Kingship of Christ. Then there was scarlet for redemption and then linen for the righteousness of Christ. And by the time they had passed through they didn’t know it but they were representing the fact that in this dispensation every believer is a member of the royal priesthood. There were four pillars on the gate and they, too, had significance.

5. Materials. These pillars were made of boards, acacia wood, and they were overlaid with gold. That is the order of most of the building materials. Nearly everything was made of acacia wood and that was the only wood used. It was then overlaid with gold. The boards were placed in sockets of silver and each socket weighed 125 lbs, two sockets per board. They were placed in the sockets by a tenon or a projection with fitted into the socket or the slot. In other words, everything had great significance. The entire foundation of the tabernacle weight six and a quarter tons. The thing that is important all the way through is that you constantly find wood overlaid with gold. The acacia wood speaks of the humanity of Christ, the gold speaks of the deity of Christ. And always, everywhere you turn in the tabernacle and see these materials you have something which represents the uniqueness of the person of Christ. They didn’t have the doctrine of the hypostatic union as we have it in the Bible and they couldn’t read it as we read it. They read it in all of these materials which were constructed. The roof was covered with four different types of covering. They had badger skin as an outer covering, ram skin dyed red, goat’s hair and fine linen. The goat’s hair was always the white hair of the goat. Everything was secured by tent pins and nails driven into the ground to which cords were attached, and so on.

The estimated cost, before inflation, was US$1,500,000 for the entire construction. This is why God told Moses to have Israel ask for 400 years back-wages from Egypt, not so they could make golden calves but so they could construct this tabernacle.

6. The roof of the tabernacle. The badger skin which was the top one was a seal or a porpoise skin really, it wasn’t a badger skin at all. It was a very durable leather and it was also used by the Jews for shoes. It speaks of the humanity of Christ. The ram skin dyed red: the rams were sacrificed on the brazen altar and then they were dyed. This speaks of Christ dying for us. Then there was a curtain of goat’s hair. It was white, speaking of the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you have curtains of white linen speaking of the perfect humanity and impeccability of Christ.

7. The tabernacle had two altars. The brazen altar was at the entrance of the first veil and the golden altar was at the entrance of the second veil. The golden altar speaks of prayer, but first of all we have the cross — no one prays until they are saved. Both altars were in front of the veils and both altars signified entrance through that veil. The first veil represents salvation by faith in Christ, the second veil is the principle of intercession as a priestly ministry.

8. The laver. The laver stood between the altar and the actual entrance to the tabernacle. This was the place where the priests washed their hands. Every believer today is a priest and our brazen laver is the rebound technique. The brazen altar was made out of brass because Christ had to bear our sins before we could name our sins and be forgiven. And it doesn’t cost us a thing to rebound. All we do is name our sins and we are forgiven immediately because Christ was judged for every sin ever named in the rebound technique.

9. The table of shewbread. This table was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. On top of it is what is called the shewbread, one for each of the tribes minus Levi. The shewbread is literally “the bread of the face” or “the bread of the presence”. The table itself speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. The loaves of bread represent the supergrace blessings that come from the intake of Bible doctrine. (Doctrine is often analogous to bread) The bread was made from fine flour without leaven. It was baked with a fire and frankincense. All of these things had meaning. The eating of the bread by the priest is a picture of GAPing it in this dispensation. Each loaf was placed under a crown, and that meant that the Lord Jesus Christ was the ruler of Israel.

10. The golden candlestick. The represents Christ the light of the world. It had seven lights. Seven is the number of perfection and also represents blessing. As we have occupation with the person of Christ we enter into the supergrace blessings. This was the only light in the holy place.

11. The oil in the lamp (fuel). This represented the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and the principle by which we become enlightened with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ.

12. The two veils. The first veil is the entrance to the holy place and the second veil is the entrance to the holy of holies. There is great detail as to how they were constructed. Each one of these veils was supported by five pillars - five is the number of grace. All entrance into relationship and blessing comes from the principle of grace. The colours of the veil: blue for deity, purple for the rulership of Christ, scarlet for salvation, the white linen refers to imputation and justification. The veils also had cherubs on them representing the essence box, and everything that is worthwhile is based upon divine essence. The tearing of the veil or the splitting of the veil indicated the end of the significance of the holy of holies. When Christ was bearing our sins, after it was over He said “Finished.” Then, of course, the veil was split.

13. The ark and the mercy seat. These represent propitiation and how God comes to love us without compromising His character.