Gluten Free & God Seeking: Why Did the Israelites Build a Tabernacle in Exodus 25:8?

Exodus isn't just about getting the Israelites out of Egypt. Although Moses paints a vivid picture of Pharaoh's oppression and the Israelites plight of forced labor, drowning babies, brick making, and 10 devastating plagues, the story doesn't end there.

Shortly after their exodus, the children of Israel camped near Mt. Sinai where God gave Moses those famous 10 commandments. But soon after that God called him up again to receive the vision of the tabernacle.

Exodus 25:8 And they shall make for Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

I don't know if you have focused on the chapters on the tabernacle in your Bible reading or not. When I was a young believer, I pretty much glossed over it all. Why didn't God just call a tabernacle into being like He did in Genesis 1? And why the immense detail?

So as I was thinking about all of this today, I remembered how I had learned in the Life-Study of Genesis that there's a thread of life and building that runs throughout the entire Bible. God doesn't want just one person on display nor does he want a nick-knack shelf of various spiritual believers, God wants a spiritual house. Let me stop here for a minute and say this is something I have deeply appreciated about the ministry of Witness Lee. Many times he shared that he was standing on the shoulders of countless other believers before him. By God's mercy he was enabled to see more revelation in God's word about God's house.

It's actually all throughout the New Testament--beginning with the Lord in Matthew 16:18B ...and upon this rock, I will build My church... All of brother Lee's sharing is strongly supported by the Bible, and I'll just put here two classic verses that clearly show that God's intention is to build His people together into a spiritual house. Take a look at 1 Peter 2:5: You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And then compare that to Paul's word in Ephesians 2:21-22 In whom [Christ] all the building being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

What's amazing about Exodus is it gives us a detailed picture of the process the Israelites went through in building the tabernacle. All the details like using acacia wood, gold, silver, and bronze, and certain types of fabric, and specific colors of thread all have spiritual meaning!! Even as I write this, I'm trying to wrap my head around it more. It's just plain incredible!! Here's an awesome excerpt from pages 949-950 of chapter 81 of the Life-Study of Exodus that shows how the tabernacle is a type of the church:

To be sure, the ark typifies the individual Christ. The tabernacle, however, typifies both the individual Christ, the Head, and the corporate Christ, the Body....The Body of Christ is the church. In Ephesians 1:22 and 23 Paul speaks of the church which is Christ's Body, the fullness of the one who fills all in all....To repeat, in Exodus we have not only the ark, but also the tabernacle. This means that we have not only Christ, but also the church....It is vital for us to see that the second section of the book of Exodus is concerned with the tabernacle as a type of the church as the enlargement of Christ. In order for Christ to be enlarged into the church, we need to have many spiritual experiences. For this reason, as we consider chapters twenty-five through forty of Exodus, our emphasis will be more on experience (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Exodus. Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim. 1981, Print).

I found out in my reading that the construction of the tabernacle and each piece of furniture typifies specific spiritual experiences that are spoken about clearly in the New Testament.

You can listen to excerpts of this life training and some outstanding commentary by listening to Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee on Exodus.

Other Posts on God's Building