The tabernacle

Worship… In Greek the word is PROSKUNEO and it means to kiss the hand, to fall on the knees, to prostrate on the ground.  To worship is to express respect for God. It is to honor and love and revere him as he rightly deserves because he is King of kings and Lord of all.  Exodus 25-40 lays out the worship that God has prescribed.  He actually told the Hebrews how to approach him and he expected that they would do so.  Exodus 25:8, “And let them make a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. You shall make it EXACTLY AS I SHOW YOU concerning the pattern of the tabernacle.”  Why so specific?  Does it matter how God is worshiped? Does it matter how he is approached?

The answer is yes.  In the book of Hebrews we’re told that the sanctuary was an exact replica of the sanctuary in heaven itself (Hebrews 9:24-26).  And so God, concerned that people approach him in a way that would not destroy them, graciously told them how to do it. Each of the pieces of furniture he described had specific purposes to enable sinful humans to approach the holy God. And each of the parts of the tabernacle and its furnishings served as types pointing to Jesus himself.

Essentially, the tabernacle was a two chambered tent surrounded by a courtyard and enclosed by screens.  The tabernacle was the place where God promised to meet with his people in the cloud of his presence. It was the place where God and man would commune. God would come down in this specific place and SPEAK to man. What a God! We could not go to Him so he came down to us.  Incidentally, the New Testament says that Jesus came and tabernacled among us (John 1). The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily. (Col 1:19).  God’s glory once dwelt in the Holy of Holies in the earthly tabernacle and then later in the temple made with hands – but eventually the Glory of God dwelt in Jesus Christ – the heavenly tabernacle made without hands – he was the only begotten Son of God.  Hebrews 1:1-3 states, “ In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son….”  How wonderful it is that God is a God who dwells with his people and who cares enough to speak to us! When once we have been born anew through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Spirit dwells within us — we become his tabernacle/temple!