Now whatever’s this? Most of Exodus ch25 to ch40 is about the tabernacle, and God’s exact (25:9,40,27:8) instructions how to build this “tent of worship”. Given twice! Why? Why does it matter to God? And however can it feed us?
Because evidently it does matter to God. Why did God call Moses up the mountain for 40 days in Exodus 24? What He says to Moses in ch25 isn’t the ten commandments. Vital though these are, they aren’t what is most deeply on God’s heart.
Rather, what these chapters (nearly a third of the book!) are about is God’s heart-desire, summarized in 29:46: `I brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them!’ In fact this will be the theme of much of the old testament. The books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel all lead us up to the point where Solomon completes the `house of God’, where He dwells; this is also the theme of the last 9 chapters of Ezekiel, and it’s from God’s `house’ that His blessing flows out into the world (1 Kings 8, Ezk 47). This is what God wanted! And this is what Exodus will finish with (ch40).
What is there for us in all this? Surely, that the purpose of our salvation too is that `we are His house’ (Heb 3:6), `built together to become a dwelling in which God lives’ (Eph 2:22; cf John 14:23, 1 Peter 2:5, Rev 21:3). Grasp the glory of that – you are the Creator’s house, you are God’s personal temple (1 Cor 6:19)! This is what salvation’s for: what God wants is a people to intimately dwell among, love and enjoy, as His house, so that He can live – and travel! – among them.
So what do these Exodus chapters teach us about how we can be His dwelling-place?
It seems that God can only dwell among His people under certain circumstances. God sets out how His `Tent of Meeting’ must be, in very specific detail. Why? Hebrews talks a lot about this `tabernacle’, making clear there are important lessons to be learnt from it. What might they be?
This is the toughest part of Exodus, and we need to use our imaginations in a non-western, symbolic manner. Ex 25 leads us out from the ark at the tabernacle’s centre, where every year the priest made atonement for the people’s sins; everything works outwards from that. Why? The ark contains the tables of the law (25:21); and – alarmingly at first – a key part of the ark is the cherubim of pure gold (v18), cherubim like those who enforced God’s judgment and our exclusion from God’s presence in Eden after our rebellion in Genesis. Which raises the question: how then will I be able to come to the heart of the place (v22) where God dwells, and meet with Him? And the wonderful answer is: because – vv17-20 tell us – the cherubim of judgment are looking now towards a `mercy seat’ or `atonement cover’ where they see atoning blood (Lev 16:15-16). (Just as Israel was sheltered from the judgment of the Passover angel because of the blood of the lamb.) This `mercy seat’ is translated in the Greek Septuagint (the early church’s old testament) as `hilasterion’, `propitiation covering’, and that’s the same word as is used for Christ being a `sacrifice of atonement’ for us in Romans 3:25. (So we’re not making all this up!) What’s the lesson here to feed us? It’s that now we can come freely to the most holy place where God dwells, not fearing His judgment, but only because the cherubim of judgment are looking towards the blood poured out for us. And on that foundation we can then move on to fellowship with God – the Table with bread (Ex 25:23-30), and the Lamp (25:31, which seems to express the presence of the Spirit, Zechariah 4).
And then we can also ask what ordinary Israelites would have learnt from all this. They could see they were excluded from God’s deepest presence by a veil (curtain) on which were portrayed, again, the cherubim of judgment (26:31). Just such was the veil ripped from top to bottom when Jesus died (Luke 23:45), making clear to us that, as Hebrews 10 says, we can now have `confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain.’ But as they looked at the tabernacle, ordinary Israelites would have begun to learn that there could be a way in; and they could see its first two ingredients. First – `near the entrance`, 40:29 – the brazen altar (27:2) on which thousands upon thousands of animals died, very messily, as personal offerings. (I sin, but the lamb dies instead – in effect, I kill it – it’s because of my sins personally that the lamb dies.) What they saw underlined, repeatedly and unmistakably, the lesson that stood also at the heart of the great passover celebration: sin, my sin, has to be paid for, and `without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’ (Heb 9:22). Everything centres on the cross where Jesus died and paid my penalty once for all (`penal substitution`); this is the vital heart of the gospel (1 Cor 15:3), and this, not my commitment, or my doctrine, or even my living by Christ’s teaching or entering into the glory of Pentecost, is the way into God’s presence. (Lose the centrality of this and we will have no assurance, no peace, no joy.)
And then the Israelites would see, as the next step, the `bath’ in which the priests washed themselves frequently before approaching God (30:20). We can only approach God’s presence through the cross that the brazen altar symbolizes. But, to really enjoy it, day by day, there must be that daily `washing of water’ too. (Cf John 13:10. And if we want to go a bit deeper…… It’s fascinating that (Exodus 38:8) this `bath’ was made out of women’s mirrors. Now, James 1:22-24 compares our self-examination through the Word to looking into a mirror; and Eph 5:26 describes God transforming us by the continual `washing of water through the Word’! So there’s a practical question here: Which matters most to me, the daily check with a physical mirror to see how my body looks, or the daily, repentant check with the Word which helps me see how my heart is – the daily `washing’ enabling me to walk freely with God? Which mirror do I spend most time on?)
Deeply symbolic; Exodus calls us into the depths… But let’s hold on to the central lesson: God longs to dwell with us, bless us, partner with us. And this, we’re helped to grasp, is possible because of the blood bringing us liberation from our sin (Heb 9:11-14); and enjoyed day by day because of a daily cleansing, where today’s sins are washed out of the way by our repentance in response to the Word. And so it is – may God help us grasp the enormity of this – that we (unlike Israel’s priests) are free – joyously – to `dwell in the house of the Lord forever’!
