The Tabernacle

It was God’s own mind from before the creation of the world to have a people and to dwell among them. After Adam’s fall in sin, mankind was driven from God’s presence, and the way of return was barred by Cherubim with flaming swords. But God’s plan of redemption was already set in place. He called a people to himself, made them great, and raised up Moses to deliver them from bondage. Taking them into the wilderness, God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle according to His perfect and detailed instructions—a house for the great God of creation to dwell among his people. The key to understanding everything in the Tabernacle is the central Person of the entire Scripture, Jesus Christ. God intended this holy structure to be the most visual presentation of the glory of Jesus Christ. It’s really the gospel in the Old Testament.

Everything about the Tabernacle Building symbolized glorification. The walls were made of wooden boards covered in gold. They were held together with bars through rings, standing in sockets of silver, so they stood firm, side-by-side, like the people of God in the church—no board stood on its own. Believers in Jesus Christ are still sinners, but they are justified by faith in Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and covered in Christ’s righteousness, like the gold that covered the wood.

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Rev. A.T. Vergunst is minister of the Gospel in the Reformed Congregation of Carterton, New Zealand.