“Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan for it that you were shown on the mountain” (Exodus 26:30 ESV).
The exacting detail of the plans for the tabernacle and its furnishings found in Exodus are both amazing and overwhelming to read. For God had instructed Moses to erect the tabernacle according to the plan and pattern God had shown him while spending 40 days with the Lord on the mountain. So Moses was careful to write a detailed blueprint for the tabernacle that its builders might fashion it just as the Lord had shown him. For Moses had not only heard these instructions, but its appearance had been “shown” to him.
Yet the earthly tabernacle was only a “shadow” and a “copy,” preparing God’s people to recognize its fulfillment in Christ Jesus. As the book of Hebrews proclaims, “They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: ‘Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.’ But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises” (Heb. 8:5-6).
Let us consider and meditate on some of the ways that the tabernacle points to Jesus. For Jesus is the Light of the World, shining as the golden lampstand. He is the Bread of Life, offered as on the table of the bread of presence. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He is the Great High Priest who gives us access to the Mercy Seat of the Father by His blood. Yes, Jesus is the real fulfillment of which the tabernacle was only a copy.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the tabernacle that points to Jesus. Yet most of all, thank You for Jesus. For He is our all in all. Help us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. In Jesus’ name, amen.