What was the tabernacle for?
Fresh from Sinai's thunder, God asked for an offering and built a home: a sanctuary so He could dwell among the people He had rescued. Every board and curtain taught that access to Him is real but mediated, and the mercy seat sat above the tablets of the law. When the glory filled the finished tent, God moved in; and John says the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.
This question arose from studying Why did God give Israel the law at Sinai?.
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What the Scripture says
The goal of the covenant was life together with God
Sinai gave commandments, but God's first request after them was a home: 'Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.' He later names this as the very reason for the Exodus, saying He brought Israel out of Egypt 'that I might dwell among them.' Rescue was never just out of slavery; it was into residence with God. The tabernacle exists because the covenant aims at fellowship.
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.
Access is real, but mediated
God says of the mercy seat, 'There I will meet with you,' yet He also warns Aaron not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place, lest he die. Curtains, courts, washings, and a priesthood all preach the same sermon: nearness to God is genuinely offered, but only on His terms and through His appointed way. Hebrews confirms the design, calling those holy places 'representations of the true'.
There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
and Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
The mercy seat sat above the law
Inside the ark lay the testimony, the tablets of the covenant law; on top of it was the mercy seat, and there, above the law, God said He would meet with His people. The furniture arrangement preaches before any prophet does: atonement covers commandment-breaking. Paul reaches for the same word when he says God sent Jesus as 'an atoning sacrifice', received through faith in his blood.
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. There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
The glory filling the tent was God moving in
When the work was finished exactly as commanded, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, 'and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle.' So heavy was the presence that Moses himself could not get inside. From then on the cloud by day and the fire by night directed every march and every camp. The tabernacle was never mainly architecture; it was Presence, God traveling with His people.
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle. Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle.
For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Jesus tabernacled among us
John's claim about the incarnation borrows this chapter's vocabulary: 'The Word became flesh, and lived among us,' literally, pitched His tent in our midst, and 'we saw his glory.' He frames it against Sinai: 'The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.' No one has seen God, John says, but the Son has declared Him. This is Immanuel, 'God with us.'
The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”; which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
Continue this trail
What did the sacrificial system teach Israel?→“For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.”Explore further
Do I need a priest to reach God?→Jesus Christ trail“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”Who can forgive sins?→Our Walk with Him trail“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—”What did the temple add that the tent lacked?→The Land & the Throne trail“He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all of its furniture, even so you shall make it.
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle.
The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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