Preparing a Home for God. (Exodus 25: 1-40)
People often dream of their ideal home. One with plenty of rooms and all the features they've always dreamed of. But suppose God decided to build a house. What would God's house look like? Well, we don't have to speculate because He gave instructions to Moses to build a house where He would personally dwell. The shocking thing is that his home was a tent. God told Moses to build an abode, commonly known as the Tabernacle, and it was little more than a tent.
In Exodus chapter 25, we will see the Lord gives Moses’ instructions on how to build this tent exactly. Later in Exodus, we are given a detailed narrative of Moses actually building the tabernacle, but these early chapters focus on the blueprint for what is to be built. The fascinating thing is that God starts with the furniture, rather than beginning with the big picture, the overview of the Tabernacle's courtyard. He gives detailed instructions on how the furniture is to be arranged and remember it is God's house being described here. But before even that let’s talk about the Tabernacle's courtyard. A closed-off area surrounded with a 7 ½ feet high linen fence. The courtyard within is 150 feet long and 75 feet wide. At the back of the courtyard is a building, a tent like structure which we will describe later.
So, to clarify, the Tabernacle refers to both the small building at the back and the entire surrounding area of 150 feet by 75 feet. At the rear of the courtyard was a building, which had a covering somewhat like area including the building at the back also is called the Tabernacle proper. Interestingly the construction of the Tabernacle starts with the furniture, particularly with the items placed in the holy of holies. The small building at the back of the courtyard which had two areas within it, the holy place and the holiest of holies. It was the holy place contained several pieces of furniture and was separated off by a veil. The holiest of holies, accessible only to the high priest once a year on the day of atonement, had only one piece of furniture and that is where God's glory dwelled on the earth.
Let's turn to Exodus chapter 25. It’s a lengthy passage, so rather than reading it all at once, we'll go through it section by section and explain as we go along.
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3 And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 5 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
(Exodus 25: 1-9)
The chapter has a simple outline: First, God instructs the Israelites to bring offerings willingly and from the heart to aid with the construction of the Tabernacle. The materials include gold, silver, bronze, fine linen, goat's hair, ram skins, acacia wood, olive oil, spices, onyx stones, and stones for the ephod and breastplate. God desires a dwelling place among His people. Here he provides the blueprint for building it and emphasizes the need to follow His instructions precisely. This physical building represents God's desire to dwell with His people. The Israelites willingly give materials for the construction, but as we will see they continue to struggle with obedience to the Lord. So it is essential to remember that God values obedience more than sacrifices. Verse 10
10 “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a moulding of gold all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
(Exodus 25: 10-16)
In verse 10, we come to the description of the first piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant. It is the most important item and it will be located in the second compartment of the Tabernacle. The ark, resembling a cedar chest, is made of acacia wood and has specific dimensions. A cubit, approximately 18 inches, serves as the unit of measurement.This concludes the section, with the ark of the covenant being the focus of attention.
Top of Form
So, the ark of the covenant was a rectangular shape, approx. 3 feet 9 inches long, 2 feet 3 inches wide, and two feet three inches high. He simply describing a fairly small sized chest, and on each of the corners was a ring, and through the ring was a pole, so that four men, two on each end of that poles could carry the ark. Those poles were to stay there permanently probably symbolising the need to be able to move at moment’s notice. The other thing is, he said, "You'd put my testimony into the ark." That is a reference to the Ten Commandments. According to this passage, all that's in there is the Ten Commandments. When you get to the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament, in Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 4, we're told there were two other things in the ark of the covenant: Aaron's rod that budded and a pot of manna. But as far as this passage is concerned, all that was there was the Ten Commandments.
Now, verse 17 continues.
17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. 20 And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark, you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
(Exodus 25: 17-22)
So, on top of this little chest was a lid that perfectly fit on the top of the chest, and that lid is called a mercy seat and it fit perfectly on top of the ark. The cherubim are winged angels. So they are told to make images of them, models of them, and they're going to be on either ends of the mercy seat. These winged angels are going to have their wings stretched out over the mercy seat, and they're going to face each other. But the point not to miss in all this is the fact that God says, ‘I'm going to dwell with you. I'm going to meet you, and I'm going to communicate with you’. That's the point of all of this.
I want to make a comment about the mercy seat before we go to the next piece of furniture.
The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, but that Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek about 250 BC. The Greek word translated as ‘mercy’ seat in Hebrew is the seat of ‘propitiation’ Usually the bible uses very simple straightforward language until you get to the word propitiation. In 1 John 2:2, it says that Christ died for our sins, and not for ours only, but also as a ‘propitiation’ for the sins of the whole world. That's an example where the word propitiation appears in the New Testament. So, what does it mean? The answer is satisfaction.
This is one of my most favourite aspect of the Gospel, that hardly ever gets mentioned because of the problem interpreting this particular word. Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Like many I struggled with this until I came across William Barclay explanation of it written in the early 1960’s. It simply means this: We've understood the penalty for sin is death. Death has to be paid for sin. That's the penalty of sin has got to be paid. The death of Christ satisfies that payment, or to put it a little more theologically, the death of Christ satisfied the justice debt of God. Let death be paid as the price for and the debt created by sin, and though Christ that debt is ‘satisfied’, propitiated. So, propitiation means that God's justice is satisfied, that Christ paid for our sins, and therefore, God can forgive us.
Alright, that's the ark of the covenant, mercy, and cherubim, lets now head towards the Holy of Holies. Now we're going to go to the outer compartment, and this compartment has three items of furniture in it, but in this chapter, only two are mentioned: the table of showbread and the candlestick. So, let's pick up the story at verse 23
The Table for the Showbread.
23 “You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold and make a moulding of gold all around. 25 You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold moulding for the frame all around. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold and put the rings on the four corners that are at its four legs. 27 The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table. 28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. 29 You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.
(Exodus 25: 23-30)
So, it gives us the dimensions of the table for the showbread. A 3-inch gold rail goes around the table so that nothing would fall off of it. Then he mentions the poles, it was to have rings on the four corners of this table, and holes in it reminding us it is portable. Four people could carry it. There were 12 loaves, and it is said that those 12 loaves represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Some suggest that these loaves were like flatbread, and they were stacked 6 in each pile. The Hebrew word translated "showbread" is made up of two words. One is "bread" or "food" in Hebrew, and the other is "presence" or "person. “So showbread means ‘the bread of presence’, meaning bread is laid before the Lord in His presence. He is our bread. In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus says He is the bread of life, and many would say he is drawing on this imagery of the presence of God first used here in Exodus.
One more, and that is the lampstand. Look at verse 31.
The Gold Lampstand.
31 “You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. 32 And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. 33 Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. 34 On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. 35 And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand. 36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold. 37 You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it. 38 And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold.
(Exodus 25: 31-38)
The word Lampstand used here is where we get the English word "menorah." This was the Jewish candelabrum, a lampstand with 6 branches which come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand on one side, and three branches on the other. On the lampstand itself, four bowls shaped like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental flower." This is clearly the most ornate, detailed piece of furniture in the Tabernacle. It just has bulbs at the end of these branches, so there were are branches and six bulbs. This is all one piece hammered out of one piece of pure gold. Again, this was an ornate piece of furniture and clearly the most ornate in all of the Tabernacle, but don’t miss the point that its purpose was to give light. The priests would go in behind the screens to change the bread, and this provided the light. Again, the New Testament says that Jesus is the bread of life, and He is the light of the world. So many would again argue that these are symbolic representations of the Lord.
Final two verses.
"39 It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. 40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”
(Exodus 25: 39-40)
It will be made of a talent of pure gold." The weight of a talent of gold depends on what you read, but somewhere between 50 and 80 pounds, so it big, huge in fact. The lampstand had seven arms at the top, each one holding a small lamp and the wick that burned the oil. Notice there was no room for human improvement here, no additions, subtractions. It was to be built according to the exact pattern as revealed here by God. So far all I have done today is describe what this passage says about building these pieces of furniture. But you might have noticed that I made two applications of symbolism, and there's are all kinds of symbolic applications that can be made in this passage. The first part of the description is pretty straightforward. But when I got down to the table of showbread and the lampstand, I made us aware of their symbolic meaning. They had a function, of course, the lampstand provided light for the holy place, but I drew attention also to what they symbolically represented. Now, maybe you are asking by what right I choose to allow symbolic explanation of some aspects of scripture and not others. The answer is Biblical president, if it done elsewhere of that thing or event, then in my estimation it is appropriate. In this case I would respond by pointing out that in Zechariah chapter 4 he also uses the lampstand and makes it a symbol, and so does the Book of Revelation. The lampstand is a symbolically used in the Book of Revelation to represent the light of God, so we have biblical warrant for saying that some of these things are symbolic. In this case, they are symbolic of the Lord as the bread of life, and the light of the world.
Let me sum this up and make what I think is the overarching point in this chapter. The sum is simple: the Lord has given a blueprint for His divine house on the earth. He begins with the furniture, including the Ark of the Covenant, the table of showbread, and the lampstand.
As we move through Exodus, He's going to give more details about the Tabernacle. But at this point, all He's done is say, "This is where I want to live. I want you to build this according to the exact instructions that I give you. I don't want you to vary from it even slightly. It's got to be exactly like I said." But I think what's fascinating is this: the big message of the Tabernacle is that God is going to live in a tent. The point is, and we can get all involved in the nature of the materials, and some people want to make an application out of every item that's mentioned. I'm personally a little wary of that except where the scriptures do it anyway. The overall point is God wants to live there, meaning God wants to live among His people. So, if all you see a building and miss what is represents, then we miss the point entirely. God wants to dwell with His people. He sent His Son, God in the flesh, to dwell with His people. As a matter of fact, when the New Testament talks about Jesus coming, it says He tabernacled among us and uses this very word.
On top of God living amongst his people in the Tabernacle, he also came and lived in a human body, in Jesus, and his incarnation, and more yet, even today He lives amongst his people by sending His Spirit. And His Holy Spirit takes up His residence in us, His people.
Today You and I are the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. The point being God wants to dwell with you. And if you recall, as I moved through this passage, I said He wants to dwell with us, meet with us, and communicate with us. He wanted to do it then, here in the Old Testament and He want to do it today with us under the New Covenant. God wants to be our God. In fact, that phrase appears repeatedly in the Old Testament in a number of places when he said: "I will be their God, and they will be My people."
That’s not just a general statement, about a chosen nation, it’s also a personal statement. He is our God? He is our helper in a time of trouble. God wants to dwell among His people and meet their needs. He wants to be our helper.so that we can, as it says in Hebrews.
"Come boldly to the throne of grace, that you might obtain mercy and grace to help in a time of need."
(Hebrews 4: 16)
To say the same thing another way. God wants to be an integral part of your life. He wants to be involved in your life. He wants you to call on Him for grace and mercy and help in every situation. That's what God wants every day and every day he is saying, I’m here, are you going to trust Me today? Whatever is going on in your life, the cry is, 'I want to be part of this. I want to dwell with you.' So, the question is, are you going to trust Me today?"
I want to make one final application about all of this. If God is to dwell among His people, there must be a mercy seat. Of all the things He could start within the Tabernacle, He starts not with the building but he starts with the Ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
The Ark with the laws of God in it. Now what do people do with the Ten Commandments? They break them, right? What is the penalty for breaking the Ten Commandments? The wages of sin is death. What's on top of the Ark? Answer, the mercy seat, where we're receive mercy.
I think it's significant that in the Ark are the Ten Commandments, which we all break, but on top of the Ark is the mercy seat. God puts a mercy seat above the ark so that it could have the sprinkling of blood on the top of the broken commandments so that when the Lord sees the blood, He will pass over, and there will not be the penalty of death paid to any person who's under the covering of the mercy seat. Therefore we should walk away from this chapter thanking God for the mercy seat and realising that he not only shows us mercy he then says, and I want to be a part of your everyday life and that is the real message of the Tabernacle for us today.