The Tabernacle of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Exodus 36:7b–13 (ESV) the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. 8 And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. 9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size. 10 He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. 11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. 12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. 13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.

Exodus can seem repetitive when you get to Chapter 36. After all, we come to a word for word description of the construction of the tabernacle that mirrors the description of the tabernacle God gave to Moses on the mountain. The question we moderns want to know is: Why is this detail being reiterated in God's story?

God inspired Moses to recount exactly how Bezalel and the other craftsman constructed the tabernacle so that the original Israelites would be REMINDED what it looked like. The details of the numbers of curtains, tent pegs, bases and poles are all important. There was ONE tabernacle where God would meet with His people and the repetition of its description and its construction exist so that the world might know for sure when they see it. 

If we apply this concept to Jesus, we start to understand something powerful. What is the Old Testament but a collection of foreshadows and types of the true and better tabernacle of God's presence? The Old Testament is giving us details through the stories of Abel, Noah, Moses, David, Jonah and others that this is what the Lord Jesus will be like and this is what He will do. He told the Pharisees the "Scriptures point to (Himself)" (John 5). We are taught repeatedly what Jesus will be like through these stories so that we will NOT miss the person wherein the Deity FULLY dwells.

Secondly, if we apply this concept to the Church, we understand something powerful about ourselves. The Church is not just people who "go to church" on Sundays. No, the Church has clear definition. The church is the living temple of God today. The Church is first gathered from among the people of the world as the materials were gathered for the original Tabernacle. Then they are PUT TOGETHER, piece by piece to become a holy dwelling where God lives by His Spirit! This means the church is in progress. 

You have to believe that Paul is thinking of this passage in Exodus when he writes Ephesians 2. Look at it for yourself: "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV).

So as the ancient people of Israel and the world were given clear descriptions of what the Tabernacle looked like, so we too are given clear descriptions of what Jesus would be like and what His Church would look like. This is important. Because not everyone who says to Jesus, "Lord, Lord" is really in the Kingdom of heaven. We have to have discerning eyes and a Biblical guide for what His Church really resembles.

Notice how quickly the materials come in for the Tabernacle but the majority of the text regards the construction happening step by step. The Church is a work in progress that gets more and more beautiful with every generation. I truly believe the Church has never looked better while at the same time, the Church is still being constructed by God's grace and we have complete confidence that tomorrow's Church will be better than today.