Exodus 25: The Tabernacle, the Way to Draw Near to God

Introduction

Two weeks after a message on the Ten Commandments, JM Botteron stays on Mount Sinai. Moses spent forty days and forty nights there in the presence of God, without eating or drinking: a miracle, because God was sustaining him. Two important things happened there. God made a covenant with his people through the Ten Commandments, and he revealed the tabernacle, the tent where he would dwell among his people.

The starting text is Exodus 25:1-9: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” For the preacher, everything begins there. God desires to dwell among his people, just as he desires to dwell among his Church. It is a desire for closeness.

The preacher then walks around the tabernacle, from the gate to the ark of the covenant. Every object speaks of Jesus Christ, the Church, and heaven, and together they show you the way to draw near to God.

Outline of the Message

1. A Heavenly Pattern, a Single Door

Moses receives precise instructions. If you read Exodus 25 and the chapters that follow, you will see that nothing is left to chance. Moses is not free to say, “I will take this utensil or that material for this place.” Everything is determined by God, down to the smallest details.
It is one of the most developed themes in the Word: about fifty chapters of the Bible speak of the tabernacle.
Hebrews 8:5 gives the key: the worship offered in the tabernacle is “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” There is another tabernacle, a heavenly one, that we cannot see, and the earthly tabernacle helps us to contemplate it.
It has three areas: the large courtyard, where the priests moved about; the Holy Place, the first part of the tent, an image of the Church; and the Most Holy Place, the second part, an image of heaven.
The courtyard measures 100 cubits by 50, about 50 meters by 25. It is surrounded by a white cloth about 2.5 meters high: it is impossible to see what is behind it.
The gate is not made of wood. It is a curtain about 10 meters wide. Everything is white except the gate. Blue speaks of heaven, purple of royalty, scarlet of blood, and the fine white linen of holiness.
Jesus says: “I am the door. If anyone enters in through me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture” (John 10:9). To draw near to God, you must go through the door, you must go through Christ. That is the divine order.
The courtyard was open to all the Israelites who brought their offering, their sacrifice.

2. The Altar of Burnt Offering: The Cross

Past the gate, you come to the altar where the fire burns. The animal was tied by ropes to the horns at the four corners of the altar, then slaughtered and burned. Its blood was poured out, and the priest offered it in your place for the atonement of sins.
This altar speaks of the cross, where the blood of Jesus was shed. Peter says that the elect share in the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2).
Jesus was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). That does not mean he sinned: he bore our sins before God and wiped them away. Atonement means covering sin in the eyes of God, covering it with his blood.
The preacher uses the image of a lightning rod, which attracts lightning. On the cross, Jesus drew the wrath of God onto himself so that it would not fall on us. The judgment that was meant to strike us fell on him.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but for those of the whole world (1 John 2:2). John the Baptist said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). All over the world, people can still turn to Jesus. There is only one condition: believe and accept his sacrifice. Peter describes him as a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:19).
No one can say this morning: I have never sinned, I have never had a bad thought. We are all sinners, and there is only one way to be forgiven: the cross. The animal sacrifices are over, Jesus gave his life once for all, but the cross is still valid today.

3. The Bronze Basin: The Word That Purifies

Behind the altar stands the bronze basin, a round basin filled with water placed between the altar and the tent. The priest washed his hands and feet there before entering, so that he would not die (Exodus 30:20-21). Anyone who was careless could be struck down.
So you need to prepare before entering the presence of God. When you serve the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit to purify you and wash you. In the service of God, you must not be careless.
The basin is an image of the Word of God. A newborn baby needs its mother’s milk from the very beginning. You who have been born again, “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever” (1 Peter 1:23), need the Word to feed your soul all your life.
Our soul is soiled by the impurities of this world. Like water, the Word cleanses and purifies the heart that receives it. This is how the Church is washed by the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26), by meditating on it and letting it enter the heart.
Bronze is also a symbol of judgment. The basin was made from the mirrors of the women (Exodus 38:8), so that the priests could see themselves in it. James makes the same link between the Word and the mirror: the one who listens without putting it into practice is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-25).
The Word is not meant to judge others or to condemn a situation. It is meant for examining yourself: where is my soul, do I need to change in my character, in my thoughts?
The preacher compares it to an antivirus on a computer, which gradually destroys the viruses that have crept in. Do not rest on your laurels: wash your hands and your feet every day, that is, read the Word of God for yourself every day.

4. The Table of Showbread: Communion

The Holy Place measures 20 cubits by 10, that is, 10 meters by 5, two thirds of the tent. The priests went in there to serve God. It is an image of the Church, with three functions: communion, edification, and worship.
On the right stands the table of the showbread, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with four rings at the four corners and two poles to carry it. God’s objects were not to be touched. Uzzah wanted to touch the ark of the covenant and was struck down for his disobedience (2 Samuel 6:6-7).
On the table were twelve loaves in two stacks of six, renewed every week. This bread speaks of Jesus, the bread of life: “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven” (John 6:51).
The table is an image of communion. When we take the Lord’s Supper, we are united around the Lord, united as brothers and sisters, since by faith we became so as soon as we accepted Christ.
The twelve loaves recall the twelve tribes of Israel, who were meant to stay together. In the Church too, we must stay united in the battles, the difficulties, and the oppositions, because the devil wants to divide and separate.
In Corinth, some said they belonged to Paul, others to Apollos, others to Cephas. Paul rebukes them sharply: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13). The slightest thought of division does not come from God, but from the evil one.

5. The Lampstand: Edification by the Holy Spirit

On the left stands the golden lampstand: one central branch and three on each side, seven lamps in all. Seven is perfection. Its oil, constantly renewed, burned before God.
The tent had no windows. Once the door was closed, you were in darkness, and the lampstand was the only source of light. It speaks of Christ: “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
It represents the edification of the Church through the spiritual gifts, the oil being an image of the Holy Spirit poured out on the Church to bring life.
The pure gold says that we share in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). But this gold was beaten with a hammer, worked, and decorated. Since your conversion, God is also working on your life to make you like Christ.
Its almond-shaped cups, with their knobs and flowers, speak of perfection and suffering: it was fitting that the Prince of salvation be made perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10).
The oil had to be replenished every day, or the flame would go out. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day, or you will no longer have fire for the Lord or a burning love for the things of God.
Jesus is the light, but he also says: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Wherever you go, you carry the light of Christ within you and you share it through your testimony.

6. The Altar of Incense: Prayer and Worship

Just before the Most Holy Place stands the altar of incense, made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with its rings and its four horns. Do not confuse it with the altar of sacrifice: there are two altars. The first, the altar of the cross, is before the Holy Place. The second, in the Holy Place, receives no animal.
Fragrant smoke rose from it, an image of the prayers that rise to God, morning and evening, as a sign of continual prayer. It represents worship in the Church, like a sweet aroma that we send up to God in our gatherings.
Strange fire and strange incense were forbidden (Exodus 30:9; Leviticus 10:1). Symbolically, this is imitated worship. God reproaches his people: “These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). Worship must be spiritual and sincere, without human techniques or fleshly means, because it belongs to God.
Jesus taught about prayer: “Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13-14).
Revelation 8:3-4 shows an angel before the golden altar, and the smoke of the incense rising with the prayers of the saints before God. We do not see it, but when the Church worships, a fragrance rises to God. Worship must come first: on Sunday, we gather to worship our God with all our heart.

7. The Most Holy Place: The Ark and the Mercy Seat

Behind the last veil, the Most Holy Place contains only one object: the ark of the covenant. It is a square of 10 cubits by 10, about 5 meters by 5. For the preacher, this shape evokes the perfection of the heavenly city of Revelation, whose length, width, and height are equal, 12,000 stadia, about 2,200 kilometers (Revelation 21:16): a cube-shaped city like the Most Holy Place, as if the Most Holy Place were coming down from heaven.
Only the high priest went in there, once a year, on the Day of Atonement. The preacher relates a tradition according to which a rope was tied to his foot, so that he could be pulled out if he died, without anyone else having to go in.
The ark contained the tablets of the law, the golden jar full of manna, and Aaron’s rod that had budded (Hebrews 9:4). The chest is an image of Christ: the acacia wood speaks of his humanity, the gold of his divinity. Christ fulfilled the whole law and inaugurated the new covenant; he is the true manna; the dead rod that produces almonds foretells the one who is risen and who gives life.
The mercy seat is the lid of pure gold placed on the ark, with two cherubim facing each other. God says: “There I will meet with you” (Exodus 25:22). It is an image of the throne of God, the place where mercy and justice meet.
On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which the Jews still celebrate, the high priest poured the blood of an innocent animal on the mercy seat. Below, the law transgressed by the people; above, the presence of God; between the two, the blood. God no longer sees the sin, he sees the blood that was shed, and he forgives. Since the cross, he no longer sees you as guilty but as forgiven by the blood of Jesus.
When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). It was so thick that no man could have torn it. The priests must have been horrified to see open a place that was meant to remain closed. But it was God who decided it.
In the new covenant, the Most Holy Place is accessible by faith, anywhere in the world. There is no need to go to Israel to be saved: the sacrifice took place at Golgotha, in Jerusalem, but the cross remains effective everywhere. “Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil” (Hebrews 10:19-20).

Key Takeaways

The tabernacle is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things: it speaks of Jesus Christ, the Church, and heaven.
You can only draw near to God by going through the door, who is Christ, and by the altar, which is the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus is enough for the whole world.
The Word is the basin where you wash every day: a mirror to examine yourself, not to judge others.
The Holy Place shows the life of the Church: communion around the bread of life, edification by the Holy Spirit, and sincere worship.
The torn veil opens the presence of God to you: through the blood of Jesus, access is free, by faith.

Personal Application

Have you already gone through the door and through the cross, asking forgiveness for your sins and accepting the sacrifice of Jesus?
Is the Word of God a daily mirror for you, or do you sometimes use it to judge others?
Is there in your thoughts or in your words any trace of division toward brothers and sisters in your church?
How can you ask every day to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that your flame for the Lord does not go out?
Is your Sunday worship sincere, or does it sometimes resemble “strange fire,” honoring God with the lips while the heart is far away?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the tabernacle represent for Christians today?

According to Hebrews 8:5, the tabernacle is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. JM Botteron sees in it Jesus Christ and his work on the cross: the courtyard leads to the cross and to the Word, the Holy Place is an image of the Church, and the Most Holy Place is an image of heaven and of the presence of God.

Why is the bronze basin an image of the Word of God?

The priests washed their hands and feet there before entering the tent. The basin was made from the mirrors of the women. As in James 1, the Word is a mirror: it purifies the soul and shows each person the state of their heart. It is not meant to judge others, but to examine yourself, every day.

What does the torn veil mean at the death of Jesus?

This thick veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, where only the high priest went in once a year. When Jesus died, it was torn from top to bottom. For JM Botteron, it is God who opens the new covenant: through the blood of Jesus, access to his presence is free, by faith, anywhere in the world.