Jesus and the Tabernacle

Introduction

Sometimes when you’re looking for Jesus in the Old Testament you find big obvious things that are flashing neon signs pointing you towards the future Messiah. Passages of the Old Testament like the suffering servant in Isaiah, or the Messianic Psalm 22, and other similar things that on this side of the First Coming seem so obvious that you have to wonder how Jews in Jesus’ day didn’t all immediately follow Him.

Then there are things like what we’re going to talk about today. Today we’re going to be exploring the wilderness Tabernacle and how it foreshadows Jesus. Now this one to be honest is not so obvious. You couldn’t be blamed if you sat and read the 15 chapters of Exodus (Exodus 25-40)where Moses is instructed to build the tabernacle and then follows the instructions and didn’t even once think that what you were reading was a type of Christ.

However, once you start looking at the design of the Tabernacle with it being a type of Christ in mind suddenly you can see the amazing significance it has. Now I think sometimes Scripture lends itself well to preaching very practical application based sermons, but other times like this it’s more information heavy and interpretive, so today we’re focused on taking a look in wonder and the beauty and complexity of the symbolism that God uses to glorify the Son in the Scriptures.

Now before we get into the details first I have to justify using the Tabernacle as a type. We don’t want to recklessly charge into the Old Testament making everything out to be a type of Christ and then allagoricalizing everything to teach a bunch of random nonsense about who Jesus is. Instead there are a few good rules to have when looking for types of Christ.

First, that you have to have some compelling reason to view something as a type of Christ. Second, you should never develop new ideas based on a type. So a type can reinforce the clear teachings of scripture, but never contradict them.

With that in mind, how do I justify viewing the tabernacle as a type of Jesus? And by the way we are looking at the tabernacle specifically and not the temple. Well first it’s important to note that the tabernacle was not designed by Moses but by God.

Exodus 25:9 (ESV)

Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

This is important because God knows the end from the beginning, and so we could reasonably conclude that could have given hints of His future redemption through Jesus Christ in the very design fo the tabernacle. So did God give us symbols of the coming Messiah in the tabernacle? Consider John 1:14

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says that Jesus “dwelt” among us, and what the English translates as “dwelt” is the Greek word σκηνόω which means “to live or camp in a tent,” which if you didn’t know that’s what the tabernacle is, the tent of meeting. And the word tabernacle itself in English just means “tent” but came to be used pretty much exclusively of the tabernacle constructed in Exodus, and in fact some translations translate John 1:14 as “tabernacled among us.”

Which was basically the whole original intention behind the tabernacle. It was how God would dwell with the Israelites as they travelled, and for some time while they were in the promised land. The tabernacle was to be placed in the very middle of the camp, with the twelve tribes of Israel radiating out from it.

It’s entire purpose was so that God Himself could be with His people, Exodus 25:8

Exodus 25:8 ESV

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

but because of their sins they needed a way to atone in order to be in His presence. The tabernacle served both purposes beautifully.

The tabernacle was the place where the glory of God dwelt, and so is a picture of God being present in the heart of Israel.

Exodus 40:33–34 ESV

And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Remember of course that in John 1:14 he also speaks of seeing God’s glory in Jesus as the only begotten son of the father. In the same way Jesus came and dwelt with us and through the Holy Spirit remains still with those who believe in Him.

Matthew 1:23 ESV

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Just as the tabernacle was designed to be portable and thus could accompany the Israelites anywhere they went, so Jesus goes with us as we go through life.

The tabernacle was also the only place that the Israelites were allowed to perform sacrifices to God, and even then only through God’s chosen priesthood in God’s specific way. In the same way Jesus is the only way to be made right with God through His sacrifice He made on our behalf as God’s Chosen High Priest for all of mankind.

Tabernacle Furniture

So the tabernacle’s purpose and placement already serve as a beautiful image of the one to come, but if we zoom in we can see even more. Let’s take a look at the furniture inside the tabernacle and how they point to Jesus.

First, let’s take a look at the layout of the tabernacle. It basically moves from the secular to the holy, from the outside world coming in to the open public area of the tabernacle,

then proceeding to the Holy Place where only priests could enter, and finally the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could enter, and he could only enter there once a year. We’ll start our exploration with the furniture found in the Most Holy Place.

Ark of the Covenant

The only piece of furniture in the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the covenant. Any Indiana Jones fans in church today? But in all seriousness, the Ark of the Covenant was a box covered in gold that resided behind a heavy curtain in the Most Holy Place and represented God’s throne. The box itself as well as its contents have incredible symbolic significance.

To begin with, the box was made mostly of acacia wood (but not the lid, we’ll get to that later.) The Acacia tree is an interesting one, it actually has big thorns on it. Where else do we see thorns prominently in scripture? Well first of all we see thorns and thistles as a part of the curse placed on Adam in Gen 3:17-18

Genesis 3:17–18 (ESV)

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

So thorns became a prominent symbol of the curse in Jewish culture. This is perhaps why Jesus was fitted with a crown of thorns when He was crucified, a beautiful symbolic image of the curse being laid on Jesus in a mocking approximation of a crown. Now, I’m not saying that crown was definitely Acacia wood, because there’s a lot of thorny bushes and trees that could have been used, but the significance of the wood of the ark of the covenant being made of a thorny tree is interesting and the poetry of that is very appealing to me if it was.

This box of acacia wood was covered completely in gold, which doesn’t in and of itself have a very clear symbolic significance as far as I can tell. If anything, it probably represents the wealth of God along with all the other gold in the tabernacle.

Now the Ark of the covenant was not just an empty box, but it contained three really important items. First, it contained the stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments. These ten commandments are the founding commandments of the entire Law of Moses, and their tablets in the ark of the covenant serve to represent the entire covenant between God and the Israelites.

Jesus is the only one to have perfectly kept the law of Moses and who never broke the covenant between God and Israel. Him came to fulfill the Law and He Himself contains all the commandments and promises of the New Covenant in His blood.

The second thing Contained in the Ark was some of the manna from heaven that God had given to the Israelites to sustain them in the wilderness. We’ll talk more about Manna next week, as the manna itself is a type of Christ in its own right, but for today we’ll read Jesus’ words in

John 6:32–33 ESV

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:49–51 ESV

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The third and final thing contained in the ark of the covenant is Aaron the High Priests staff. A staff was a symbol of a person’s authority, and Aaron’s especially was special in its significance for proving God’s choice of High Priest. We read the story in Numbers 17. This takes place after there had been disputes about the authority of Aaron as high priest, and God is telling Moses how He will mediate the dispute.

Numbers 17:5–8 ESV

And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs. And Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

So get this, Aaron has a staff made from an almond tree. In order to make a staff you need to remove a piece of wood from a living tree, therfore killing it. So in order to prove to everyone Aaron’s identity as God’s chosen High Priest, God brings this piece of wood miraculously back to life and it sprouts and bears fruit. Sort of reminds me of how Jesus was killed and brought back to life to demonstrate that He is God’s chosen High Priest and His ministry continues to this day to bear fruit. This we read about in Acts 17:31

Acts 17:31 ESV

because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

So this confirms that God was proving His appointment of Jesus to the world by raising Him from the dead.

And get this, after God demonstrates His choice of Aaron as High Priest He explains the purpose for which He has chosen Aaron in Numbers 18:1

Numbers 18:1 ESV

So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood.

So Aaron’s purpose as High Priest was to bear the iniquity of the Israelites, or in other words to carry and make atonement for the sins of the people. Jesus does the same, only much much much better.

The Mercy Seat

Now on top of the Ark of the Covenant was a lid made of solid gold that was called “the Mercy Seat.” On top of the Mercy seat were two Cherubim, which were a type of angelic being, and both of them had their wings stretched out over the middle of the lid. The very centre of the mercy seat was left empty. This is where in other cultures they would have placed an idol to represent their god, but Yahweh wanted the Israelites to be set apart and didn’t want to be represented by a dead idol. Instead the mercy seat was left empty so that God Himself could descend in glory over the mercy seat.

Once a year, on the day of atonement, when the High Priest made a sacrifice for all the sins of the congregation of Israel, he would bring the blood into the Most Holy Place and the mercy seat is where he would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice to make atonement for the people.

The book of Hebrews gives a great explanation of how this foreshadows Christ in Hebrews 9:6-14

Hebrews 9:6–14 ESV

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Thus Jesus sprinkles His own blood not on the mercy seat but the throne of God which it was made to represent. Remember that every type of Christ is lesser than Christ. Everything in the Tabernacle that represents Him does so in a lesser way, diminished way. It’s always been building from the beginning of time to Jesus as the ultimate climax of history.

The table of the Showbread

Moving from the Most Holy place to the Holy Place, there’s a few interesting pieces of furniture out there. The first being “The table of the showbread.” This table was also made of Acacia wood and overlaid with gold. On it the priests were to prepare twelve large fresh loaves of bread called the bread of the presence, likely twelve to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Bread in several places of scripture is used to represent the flesh or the body, so likely in this case they serve as a symbolic representation of the body of the nation of Israel. Beside the bread would be goblets of wine. Just as I shared in my communion meditation the bread and the wine speak the future covenant in Jesus’ blood that would be consecrated at the last supper with His disciples.

The lampstand

Across from the table of showbread in the Holy Place was the golden lampstand. It was made to look like seven branches of an almond tree, seven being a number that represents fulness or completeness, probably in part because there are seven days in a week. The choice of almond branches in interesting. In Hebrew the word for almond also means to watch or to wake, because the almond was the first tree in their area to blossom. It blossomed in January, and so appeared as if it was the only living tree amongst the dead trees.

The lampstand was to be carefully maintained and was intended to stay lit without ever going out. It was also the only source of light in an otherwise dark tent, since the coverings were so thick that natural light wouldn’t get in. Jesus compared Himself to a light shining in the darkness in

John 8:12 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Like the lampstand is the only light in the holy place, Jesus is the only light that we need in the world. The lampstand is also the only piece of furniture in the holy place where it was specified that it needed to made from “hammered” or in other words beaten gold. This is reminiscent of how Jesus was stricken for our transgressions. Even the oil which provided fuel for the lamps was made of olive oil which God specified needed to be beaten in

Exodus 27:20 ESV

“You shall command the people of Israel that they bring to you pure beaten olive oil for the light, that a lamp may regularly be set up to burn.

Interestingly enough the prayer of Jesus in the garden of gethsemene where he poured out his soul in prayer to God would have been in a place they pressed olives. We know this because the name garden of Gethsemene means garden of the olive press. In Zechariah 4 we read that oil represents the Holy Spirit. In like manner Jesus had to be pressed and crushed in order to give us the Holy Spirit.

The Altar of Incense

The final piece of furniture inside the tent was the altar of incense. Like the lampstand the intention was for it to never go out, so there would always be a pleasent smell from the incense in the tent and drifting into the holy of holies. Besides the high priest the smell of the incense would have been the only other thing to enter the Most Holy place. Incense represents prayer according to Psalm 141:2 “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” and Revelation 8:4 “and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”

In the New Covenant we pray in Jesus’ name. Which doesn’t mean you have to end every prayer with the words “in Jesus’ name,” but means that we are praying based on His authority and on what He accomplished for us on the cross. Just as the incense was to burn continually before the Lord Jesus intercedes for us continually in the thrown room of God, and we should be encouraged also to “pray without ceasing” as Thessalonians 5:17 tells us.

The coverings

The veil

I had a whole section on all the different coverings in the Tabernacle and their symbolic significance, but for the sake of time I’ll just talk briefly about the veil. The Veil was thick fabric that seperated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It seperated everyone from the direct presence of God, except for the High Priest once a year. The veil was one whole piece and had no opening, so they actually had to lift it and crawl under it in order to give the offering on the Mercy seat. This was one way to enter God’s presence with the right frame of mind.

When Jesus died this was the veil which was torn from top to bottom in the temple according to

Mark 15:37-38

Mark 15:37–38 ESV

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

In other words Jesus’ death ended the seperation between God and man and made a way for everyone to come freely into the presence of God. This is backed up by

Hebrews 10:19–20 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

Here the author of Hebrews states plainly that the veil of the temple is a symbol of the flesh of Jesus which needed to be torn in order to open the most holy place to us.

Outside furniture

And that’s just inside the tent! There’s more furniture outside. Now outside the tent was a blocked off area where the general public could come in and bring their sacrifices of various kinds.

Bronze altar

The place they brought these animals was to the bronze altar. In contrast to the furniture inside the tabernacle, there’s no gold on the furnishings outside. It doesn’t seem like there’s any clear significance to the bronze in particular as far as I can tell. It was 7 and a half feet on all four sides and each corner had a bronze horn.

The sacrificial animals were burned here, and the coals in the pit below where the animal was burned were then used to burn the incense on the incense altar in the tent. So in a sense the blood of the sacrifice brings the incense of the prayers of Israel before God. In like manner the sacrifice of Jesus is what lifts our prayers to God. It is on His behalf that we are heard by God.

Bronze Laver

Between the altar and the holy place was a large washbasin called the bronze laver. This was apparently made from the melted down mirrors of Egyptian women that the Israelites had taken with them during the Exodus. It was filled with water which was used for the purposes of ceremonial cleansing.

Like this bronze laver Jesus washes us clean, though instead of merely ceremonial cleanliness Jesus brings a true washing of us from our sins and makes us righteous.

Ephesians 5:25–26 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

And just as the washbasin is made from mirrors the word of God is a mirror that reflects and shows us who we really are according to James 1:22-25

Exclusivity of the tabernacle

Now there’s one last very important thing to say about the Tabernacle and how it serves as a type of Christ. The Tabernacle was the only place that the Israelites could go to be made right with God. No other sacrifices besides those made in the tabernacle and later the temple, and only those when properly performed by God’s chosen priests, could atone for the sins of the nation. And this exclusive place of atonement actually only had one entrance or doorway through which the people could enter.

In the same way Jesus is now the only atoning sacrifice that can make us right with God. He is also the only doorway into God’s presence John 10:9

John 10:9 ESV

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

And Jesus is the better sacrifice by far because His death “once for all” pays for the sins of men, and we never need to make another atonement.

So for this sermon there’s a lot of information, and not a lot of it is practical and immediately applicable. Yet not all of God’s word is meant to be a handbook for making day to day decisions. Some of the Bible is meant simple to evoke in us a sense of awe and a response of worship at the beauty of God’s design and the majesty of His plan to save us from before the foundation of the earth.