Exodus 26:1-37 – “What’s Behind the Curtain?”
Outline:
- Intro.
- Vs. 1-14 Covered by His Presence
- Vs. 15-30 An Anchor of the Soul
- Vs. 31-37 Boldness to Enter the Holiest
Intro.
I have had the opportunity to travel to many countries, and in my travels, I like to go into churches to look at the architecture. You can tell a lot about those who worship there by the way they have decorated the inside of their church. I have seen the frescos of the ceilings, often depicting a biblical scene. At one church by the Sea of Galilee, I remember the altar, which was nothing more than a boulder where they claim Jesus stood. I suppose it is natural to decorate the inside of buildings in a way that inspires worship. Unfortunately, many times, that which was to inspire worship actually becomes the object of worship.
After church last Sunday, my wife and I went to Modesto for our niece’s infant baptism. Now, the last time I had been in this church was on my wedding day. I had forgotten how modern and frankly ugly the church was. The priest, during the ceremony, prayed that God would bless all of the religious statues and objects. I started thinking that they really needed something that would beautify them. Does God really care about beauty? I mean, is He really into art and decorations within the church? The great Christian thinker and theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote a little book called “Art and the Bible,” in which he takes up this question. There are some folks who quote Exodus 20:4-5 about making no graven image of anything on heaven or earth to bow down to them as a reason not to have any decorations in the church. Yet, if you read Leviticus 26:1, we read, “You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.” This passage makes it clear that what God forbids is not the making of representational art, but rather the worship of it, for only God is to be worshiped. The same God who told Moses to tell the people not to worship art, on the very same mountain, told Moses exactly how to fashion the tabernacle in art that was clearly representing heaven and His presence. Four times in chapters 25-26, Moses was told to make everything “according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.”
Yeh, so? Well, clearly, the idea was not man’s or Moses’s; the pattern came from God Himself! God caused Moses to see exactly what He wanted Moses to build in the tabernacle. Hey, folks, say what you want, but God was into this sanctuary as He told Moses all the details of every piece and every fabric of the sanctuary. Why was God doing all of this? Was it for His need? No, it was to create such an environment in which man would experience all of Himself!
II.) Vs. 1-14 Covered by His Presence
Vs. 1-6: In looking at this section of scripture, I want to paint a picture in your mind of a tent. Not one of those new dome tents but rather one of those old canvas ones. You remember the type that is rectangular and had two poles inside that kept the tent up? Well, that is kind of how this sanctuary looked from the outside. The tent, if you will, was made up of four different layers:
- Vs. 1-6: Fine linen with a pattern of cherubim in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn.
- Vs. 7-13: A goat’s hair layer that was almost black in color that went over the fine linen, being two cubits or three feet longer than the first layer.
- Vs. 14: Then there was a layer of ram’s skin dyed red, which would be like fine leather and provide some insulation.
- Vs. 14: On the outside exposed to the elements was badger skin, which would probably better be translated as porpoise or sea cow skin. The purpose of this layer was to make the sanctuary waterproof.
Again, I want you to realize that God describes this to Moses from the inside out. Yeh, so? Well, how often do you describe your house from the inside out? No, most of the time, you describe your house from the outside: “Ours is the brown house with white trim.” Yet here, clearly, God describes the sanctuary from the inside out. When you describe a house you once lived in with those that lived there with you, you almost always start with a description of the inside. The point I’m making is that describing something from the inside and working outward is always associated with intimacy. When God gives the vision of the sanctuary to Moses, He starts with the inside. Do you realize that God is always most concerned with the inside of things and not the outside? The only way you would ever appreciate the inside is if you went into the sanctuary to be with Him.
Folks, I know a lot of people who won’t ever come into a church building because they don’t see us as very attractive. The covering we put on has a lot to do with whether or not someone might come to church. Think of what people are missing because of what we present to them as Christ-like.
May I make another point? Isaiah 53:2 says concerning Jesus that, “There is no beauty that we should desire Him.” You see, Jesus was not all that attractive on the outside. What I mean is that, as far as physical features, He was probably average. That is what we are told here in Isaiah. Yet, to read the Gospels is to realize that all of Israel desired an audience with Him. So, what was the attraction? Inward beauty! Putting what I have just said above with this makes me realize that all too often I’m making the outside better looking instead of allowing His beauty to shine through me! Do you realize that now we are the temple of the Holy Spirit? And He has changed us from the inside and is working on our outside by way of our inward change? That’s always God’s way, is it not? The pleasure of knowing any person is getting by what is on the exterior and working your way inside their new heart. It is then that we can proclaim that a person is beautiful. How opposite this is in the world! What is prized in the world is what we see from the outside, not what you see from the inside. Now, if you are as fortunate as I am, then you are married to a person who is as attractive on the outside as they are on the inside!
There is a curious passage in Romans 13:14 where Paul says to the believers in Rome, “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” The NKJV uses the words “put on” instead of “clothe,” but I think the NIV renders it right when they use the word “clothe.” We are to clothe ourselves in Jesus, folks. Yet when you read in Judges 6:34 about Gideon, we are told that “the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon.” It is interesting to read the literal translation of this in Young’s Literal Translation, which reads, “the Spirit of Jehovah hath clothed Gideon.” In other words, the Holy Spirit clothed Himself in Gideon. To put these two verses together is to understand how we are to present ourselves in the world. We ought to allow the Holy Spirit to clothe Himself in us so that we will clothe ourselves in Jesus.
III.) Vs. 15-30 An Anchor of the Soul
Vs. 15-30: Here we have the sides or the frame of the tent. The sides of the tent were made up of 48 boards from acacia wood, just as we saw in the making of the ark and the table of showbread, and were overlaid with gold as well. The north and south sides had 20 boards each, and the back of the tabernacle, which was the western side, had six boards with two on the corners. They were joined together by a system of tabs with rings through which four bars would run through them. The boards did not touch the earth; they were instead placed on a stand of silver, which was given by every male of military age and was called redemption money. The weight of each of the 48 bases of silver was around 264 pounds. Through the center of the boards was drilled a hole in which another bar, invisible, ran to further strengthen the framework. The boards were 15 feet high and 2 feet 3 inches wide, thus, put altogether, we get the visual picture of a structure with sides and a back 15 feet high, the length of which was 45 feet, and its width 15 feet.
So, what does this mean to you and I? Well, again, in the boards, we are reminded of the Lord’s incorruptible humanity overlaid with His deity. Silver is the metal associated with redemption, and the fact that this frame rested upon the unstable earth speaks to me about the stability I have in Christ. I love the fact that everything was held in place by these bars, especially the invisible one. Unity with diversity—and what is it that keeps the body of Christ together? The bond of Jesus! Can you imagine the beauty of this as the golden lampstand’s light glistened off of the golden boards? Folks, everything in heaven is reflective in nature; may we never forget that we, too, ought to be reflective of God’s glory!
IV.) Vs. 31-37 Boldness to Enter the Holiest
Vs. 31-37: There were two barriers or doorways into this structure.
- Vs. 31-33: The first here separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It was made of fine linen, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn with cherubim, just like the first layer of the tabernacle. It was hung on four pillars made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, set on silver sockets. Later on, the Jews made the veil much thicker because they did not want anyone but the high priest, once a year, to see inside the Most Holy Place. At the time of Jesus, the veil was four fingers thick, or approximately 3 ¼ inches thick. Now, spiritually speaking, we are told in Mark 15:38 that at the time of Jesus’ death for the sins of the whole world, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Furthermore, we are told in Hebrews 10:19-20 that this means we can have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.”
So, we get a great picture of what this veil means to us in that now we can enter into the presence of God through faith in Jesus. Before, you could only enter into the Most Holy Place once a year, and only if you were the high priest.
In Vs. 34-35, we see the arrangement of the furniture we have already discussed. This furniture speaks to us today about three foundations of our Christian life:
- The altar of incense: This, we are told in Revelation, is for the prayers of the saints (you and I), thus it reminds us that as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, we are to “pray without ceasing.”
- The table of showbread: This reminds us of the need for fellowship and the breaking of bread with one another.
- The golden lampstand: This reminds us of our need to receive illumination from the Word of God. Psalm 119:105 tells us that “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
Does this remind you of anything? How about in Acts 2:42, at the birth of the early church, where we read the dynamics of the church: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Vs. 36-37: Now, this was the screen door, if you will, to the 45 feet by 15 feet Holy Place. It was again made of the same material and was hung from hooks upon five pillars of acacia wood, again overlaid in gold, with the foundation being bronze. Bronze is made by refining over and over again, so this speaks of purity by way of trial. This was the only entrance into the Holy Place, and we are reminded of Jesus’ words in John 10:9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”