EXODUS 26 - FINDING GOD IN THE TABERNACLE
EXODUS 26
This Chapter gives the account of the instructions that God gave to His people for the construction of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was sort of a mobile dwelling place for God, where He would meet with His people, which was used before the construction of the Temple. It traveled with the people on their journey to the Promised Land. While the Temple became a more permanent meeting place between God and His people, it did not last forever. History records that the original Temple built by Solomon was destroyed around the time of the Babylonian exile of God’s people, and that it was rebuilt in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, only to again be destroyed and then rebuilt again by Herod. That last Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. But actually, the Temple was no longer necessary by that time, because Jesus had come and paid for sin, which rendered His people as Holy vessels into which God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, could then dwell. Nonetheless, there is a lot to learn in this Chapter about the permanent unchanging nature of God.
Over and over again in this account, we see the phrase “you shall make” or similar words being used with each part of the instructions. This reminds us of a few important things about God. One is that He is a God of order.
Everything He ordains is ordained with an order to it, whether it be physical things ranging from the universe itself, to buildings, articles of worship, the human body, plants, animals, relationships, or institutions.
Although we live in a fallen world, due to sin and the resulting curse, if we seek to live within God’s created design and order in all aspects of our lives, they generally work out. However, the minute we step outside of His design and order, we find ourselves living back in something like the chaos and darkness that existed in Gen. 1:2 before God unleashed His creative plan.
God is a God of beauty as well as order, and everything He creates is beautiful and designed to give Him glory.
Heaven, which is where He dwells, is a place of beauty. The detailed descriptions of the tabernacle in this Chapter are reflective of this truth. There are numerous colorful curtains described in here, along with a veil, and a screen. There are acacia wood frames, anchored to a base of silver. There are gold clasps & bronze clasps to hold the curtains. There are acacia wood pillars, overlaid with gold, that surround the central place of the Tabernacle. His glory is reflected in the beauty of the Tabernacle.
Another important thing about God that we see here is that He gets to prescribe how we will approach Him in fellowship and worship, and we must come to Him His way, or we won’t be able to come at all.
Between God and man, with God being the superior and only Holy being, He gets to ordain how, if at all, inferior and sinful humanity may approach Him.
At this point in God’s redemptive plan, He prescribed that He was to be approached in this precision crafted Tabernacle. However, ever since the fulfillment of the revelation of His redemptive plan, He has prescribed that He can only be approached through the blood of Jesus.
In Vs. 31-34, we have a description of the veil that separated the Holy Place from what is called the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. This latter place was where the High Priest would once a year meet with God to sprinkle blood from slain lambs on the altar to atone for the sins of the people for the past year. This process was set forth in Lev. 16:33-34, and is also mentioned in Heb. 9:6-7. This process only resulted in a partial and incomplete atonement, but it prefigured the full, final, and forever atonement that Jesus would provide through His blood. The veil was there to prevent anyone from having any regular access to God. Yet, because of Jesus and what He did on the cross, that veil was torn in two while He was being crucified. This event is recorded in Matt. 27:51, which tells us that the veil was torn from the top down. This speaks to the fact that access to God comes from Him to us, not the other way around. We cannot earn or achieve our own access to God. It can only come if He grants it, which He has done through the shed blood of His Son. Now, as New Testament believers, we have direct access to God at any place and time through Jesus as our High Priest. This is seen in Heb. 4:14-16 and Heb. 10:19-20. What an amazing privilege!