The Tabernacle is first introduced to us in Exodus chapter 26. Moses has led his people out of Egypt and they are on their way to the promised land-Israel.

If you’ve read this chapter, you probably hurried through because there are a lot of specifications and measurements on how the tabernacle is supposed to be constructed.

And besides, what even is a cubit anyways? If you’re like me you likely googled “what did the tabernacle look like”.

But let’s back up a bit. What even is a tabernacle and why did God ask Moses to build one?

Exodus 25:1-8 states, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution…And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

You see, while the people were walking through the desert to get to the land of Israel, God was with them the entire time. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people” Exodus 14:21-22.

And so after God had met with Moses on Mount Sinai, the tabernacle instructions were given, and it was there that God would dwell in their midst.

I decided to read a bit more into the tabernacle description. There are many commentaries that explain how each element of the tabernacle construction relates to the coming of Jesus, but I wanted to let God lead my thoughts on the matter and He brought something to my attention that I hadn’t really thought about before.

First, of course, is that amazing verse about God wanting to dwell among the people. Think about how much the Israelites complained while in the desert. How many times they wanted to go back to Egypt and to slavery. If these people were complaining so much, I’m not so sure that I would want to dwell with them.

Jesus does the same for us. He died for our sins so that we could have a direct link to God. “For through him [Jesus] we both have access to the Father [God] by one Spirit” Ephesians 2:18. God is able to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit.

Second, I was interested in how descriptive God gets when giving Moses instructions on how to build the tabernacle. He says things like, “Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit” Exodus 26:5-6.

It is a very detailed design. But do you notice, that once God starts dwelling in you, the Holy Spirit starts to get detailed about how you should be living your life, how you should glorify God in all things that you do.  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

God also instructed Moses to only use the finest of materials to build the tabernacle. “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker” Exodus 26:1.

So too are we only to present the best of ourselves in order to please God. “Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world” 1 Peter 2:12.

And lastly, I noticed that God used exactly what each person brought with them out of Egypt to construct his dwelling place. Remember that they had to pack up quickly in order to escape Pharoah.

Likewise, we can come to Jesus anywhere, anytime, any condition. Peter was a fisherman. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul was a persecutor of Christians. And Jesus transformed their lives so that they would dwell with God forever. “’For Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Romans 10:13.

What a beautiful explanation God gave to me about the tabernacle. I no longer see it as just an extraordinarily complicated construction plan, but rather a depiction of what your life will become as Jesus and the Holy Spirit transform you as the ultimate dwelling place for God here on earth until we get to be eternally with him in Heaven.