Exodus 26:1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.
2 The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
3 The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another.
4 And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another.
6 And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.
As God was giving Moses His instructions, He began with the vessels that would be in the Tabernacle. Now He was giving him the instructions for the Tabernacle itself. The Tabernacle would also be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we have seen in chapter 25 would be contained in the Tabernacle.
Jesus Christ is the Bread of life, the Light of the world, the Mercy Seat, the Law, etc. The Tabernacle was a tent to house all those things. The Tabernacle would be a constant reminder of God’s desire to dwell amongst the people, the children of Israel. They would need to enter into fellowship with Him in order to enjoy the blessings of that place.
As the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God would protect them from enemies, both human and animal. He would set the environment for them to be able to put together all that He was commanding Moses to do. They would not need to rush into it and take short cuts and leave things undone.
As we read the instructions for the Tabernacle, we see that there was much detail involved in this tent. God is a God of order. He is a God that man should be in awe of. His greatness and majesty should cause us to stop and take notice. However, we need to be careful not to be as the disciples were in Matthew 24. They wanted Jesus to stop and notice the magnificence of the Temple that Herod had poured money and time into.
Jesus was not impressed with that building. That building had become a distraction to the people because they lost sight of its purpose. Even though He cleansed that building twice during His earthly ministry, the majority of the people never came to see the true purpose of that building. Of course Jesus Christ was the true Temple they needed to know and trust in.
That building would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. God needed to remove that building so that the Jews would see the importance of knowing the true Temple.
The Tabernacle needed to be the centre piece of life for the nation of Israel. Jesus Christ needs to be the centre piece of the true child of God. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
We learn here that the materials used to make the Tabernacle were durable. They were not cheap scraps that would need fixing and replacing. There were certain colours that needed to be used, all of which would illustrate important aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blue could speak of His heavenly home, the purple of His royalty, the scarlet of His blood that would be shed for the remission of sins. The linen was to be embroidered with cherubims throughout. The cherubims were special angelic beings that served God. This would be a reminder that the priests needed to be special men who needed to be committed to the service of the Lord as well.
The curtains were twenty-eight cubits (42 feet) long and four cubits wide (6 feet). These curtains would have some weight to them. God required special people to serve in the Tabernacle. Not all the priests that would serve would be godly men, but that was what they were supposed to be. God showed the importance of that when He struck Nadab and Abihu dead for their mockery of that which was to be holy.
God gave specific instructions as to how the sections of curtains were to be coupled together. You notice that each section was to have fifty loops on the edge to couple it to the next curtain. They could not have forty nine loops or fifty one loops. God gave the specific number and there would not need to be any more and there did not need to be any less.
Details are important to God. Doctrine is important to God. The New Evangelical crowd dismisses doctrine. Generalities are good enough to them. The danger they face is that many people have a “general” Jesus, who cannot save them. In the end, every person will stand before the true Jesus. We can know Who He is because we have the Word of God which gives us very precise facts about Him. The ecumenical Jesus will not be the judge. He, and there are many ecumenical Jesus’, will shudder in the presence of the true Jesus.
Today is the Lord’s Day. It is another day in which God has given us the privilege of meeting with Him in His house. He has called godly men to lead in His local assembly. There are some true churches and there are many more false churches. Be sure you ask God to lead you to a true local church where you can be challenged from the Word of God. You will be blessed in going where He wants you to be.
Pastor Bartel
