THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST: GENESIS AND EXODUS (25)

DESIGN OF THE TABERNACLE

Key Passage: Exodus 25:1-9

CHAPTER 25	CHAPTER 26	CHAPTER 27
Tabernacle Interior	Tabernacle Structure	Tabernacle Exterior
Items of Worship	Place of	Worship

OVERVIEW During Moses’ stay on the mountain, God reveals His detailed plans for the tabernacle in which He will dwell and receive His people’s worship. No item is overlooked in God’s design of this portable tent of worship. Everything is to be done "according to the plan shown you on the mountain" (26:30). God’s dwelling place with His people, Israel, will be the central structure in the camp and the focus of the nation’s attention and activities.

God is neither shut up nor shut

out of any place, anywhere.

OUR DAILY WALK How big is your God? Having studied the tabernacle in detail, keep in mind this was a portable building, capable of being dismantled and carried around as Israel journeyed. Though God’s presence uniquely inhabited the tabernacle, the fact that it could be disassembled for travel served to remind the Israelites that their God could not be confined to four walls. He was with them in the fire and cloud; He could divide great seas and drown mighty armies; He could provide water from rocks and manna from the morning dew. Contrast this with pagan gods of neighboring nations-powerless idols that had to be carried on their worshiper’s shoulders (Isaiah’s 46:5-7). Israel’s priests carried God’s temporary house on their shoulders, but Israel’s God carried them!

If at times you find yourself wishing God were a little more flexible, yielding more to your own desires and expectations, consider this fact: if God were small enough for you to control, He would not be strong enough to help you in time of need.

If you can, visit your church sometime today, and in the quiet, worshipful atmosphere of the silent sanctuary, spend a few minutes praising the God you serve – a God no building can contain.

INSIGHT How Would You Like to Hang These Drapes?

The Jewish historian Josephus explained that the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, was four inches thick. It was so sturdy it could not be torn apart by horses tied to it, pulling in opposite directions.