The Book of Exodus

Explanation

God asks for an offering, but only "of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart." The materials are rich, gold, silver, brass, blue and purple and scarlet, fine linen, oil, spices, and precious stones, all given freely by a grateful people. Then God states the purpose of the whole project in one shining sentence: "let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." The God who had thundered from Sinai now wants to come down and live in the middle of the camp. But everything must be made "after the pattern of the tabernacle ... which was shewed thee in the mount." Nothing was left to human imagination; every detail was designed by God, because this sanctuary was a shadow of heavenly realities. God Himself drew the plans for the place where He would meet His people.

Gospel Focus

The whole tabernacle rises from one desire in the heart of God: "that I may dwell among them." This is the thread that runs through the entire Bible. God walked with man in Eden, dwelt in the tabernacle and the temple, and then came in the fullest way of all when "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), God with us in Jesus Christ. Now, by His Spirit, God dwells in His people: "ye are the temple of God, and ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16). And it ends where it began, only greater, when the voice cries, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them" (Revelation 21:3). The gold and linen were never the point; the presence was. And notice that God's dwelling was built by willing hearts, for "God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). The place where God comes to dwell is still built of what His people give Him gladly, our hearts, our lives, offered freely to the God who longs to dwell in us.

Explanation

The first and holiest piece is the ark, a chest of acacia wood "overlay(ed) ... with pure gold, within and without," crowned with gold, and carried by gold-covered staves that were never to be removed. Inside went "the testimony," the tables of the law. On top sat the mercy seat, a lid of pure gold with two cherubim of beaten gold facing one another, their wings stretched over it. This was the very center of the tabernacle, and God says of it, "there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat." God's meeting-place with sinful man was directly above the broken law, yet He met them not in wrath but from the mercy seat. Between the law that condemned and the holy God who gave it stood the covering of mercy, and there, upon that mercy seat, the blood would one day be sprinkled on the Day of Atonement.

Gospel Focus

The mercy seat is one of the clearest pictures of Christ in the tabernacle. God met His people "from above the mercy seat," which lay directly over the law they had broken, teaching that God deals with us not on the ground of the law but on the ground of mercy and atoning blood. This is fulfilled in Jesus, "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25), the very word the Scripture uses for the mercy seat. Christ is our mercy seat, where the holy God and the guilty sinner meet in peace, because His blood covers our sin. Under the law the high priest sprinkled blood there once a year; in Christ the true and final blood has been offered, and now God meets us there freely and forever. Notice too that the mercy seat sat above the law, not instead of it. God's righteous law is not abolished but covered by mercy in Christ. Come to God, then, not trusting your own keeping of the law, but through the mercy seat, the blood of Jesus, where God waits to meet you and commune with you in peace.

Explanation

The second piece is a table of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold, crowned with a golden border, and carried by gold-covered staves. On it were set golden dishes and bowls, and above all, the "shewbread before me alway." This bread, twelve loaves as later chapters show, one for each tribe, was called the bread of the Presence because it sat continually before the face of God. It was renewed every sabbath and eaten by the priests. The table with its bread spoke of fellowship: a meal kept perpetually in God's house, His people represented before Him day and night, and God providing bread at His own table. In the holy place, alongside the light, stood this reminder that God feeds and communes with His people.

Gospel Focus

The bread of the Presence points to Christ, who said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). As the shewbread was set continually before God, so Christ is the true bread, ever before the Father and given to feed His people. And the twelve loaves, one for every tribe, kept all God's people continually before His face, a beautiful picture of how the whole church is represented and remembered in God's presence, none forgotten, all held before Him always. The table teaches fellowship: God spreads a table and welcomes His people to feed in His presence. This is fulfilled at the Lord's table, where we feed on Christ, and it will be fulfilled fully at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The God who longs to dwell with us also longs to feed and commune with us. In the sanctuary there was always light and always bread, for the God who dwells among His people never leaves them in darkness or in hunger. He is our light and our bread, and His people are ever before His face.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The third piece is the lampstand, or candlestick, all of "pure gold: of beaten work," hammered from a single talent of gold into one piece. From its central shaft came six branches, three on each side, each adorned with bowls shaped "like unto almonds," with knops and flowers, so the whole stand looked like a living, blossoming tree of gold. On it burned "seven lamps," giving light "over against it." This was the only source of light in the holy place, which had no window; without it the priests would minister in darkness. Its beauty was not for show but for service, to give light where God was worshiped. Like everything else, it was to be made exactly "after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount."

Gospel Focus

The golden lampstand shines with meaning. It was the only light in the holy place, as Christ is the light of His people: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). It was of "beaten work," hammered and shaped by blows from a single piece of gold, a fitting picture of the Lord who was smitten and bruised that He might give us light, and of a people refined through suffering. Its seven lamps speak of the fullness of the Spirit's light, for the Spirit is pictured as seven lamps of fire before the throne. And in the New Testament the lampstand becomes the church: "the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches" (Revelation 1:20). The church is called to be a lampstand, holding up the light of Christ in a dark world, shining not with its own light but with the light God gives. Like the almond branches, which blossom first in the spring, the lampstand speaks of life and resurrection light. Where God dwells there is light, the light of Christ by the Spirit, and His people are meant to carry that light where the world sits in darkness.