They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:5.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
My delight is to be with you. I am always seeking ways to dwell with you individually and among you collectively. In fact, that is what we are currently headed for, the Day when I rid the world of the curse and every evil thing and work, creating new heavens and earth and uniting My heavenly Kingdom with your earthly Kingdom so that you behold My heavenly city descending down to earth and hear the words from Heaven: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4. And that Day will last forever. There will never be night or any darkness again.
When I redeemed the descendants of My faithful friend Abraham, with whom I had made covenant, out of Egypt, My intention was to dwell with them and make them a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people set apart, who would listen to My voice and keep My Words. My own special treasure whom I had carried out of Egypt on eagle’s wings and brought them to Myself. And I had a plan of how I would journey with them to give them the Promised Land as one traveling as they did, but it had a much deeper meaning. It was a visual lesson and a shadow of the substance of what I would do for them in My Son. And you can learn the same lesson from it too but being on this side of the Cross you will understand. Now you are a tabernacle of My Spirit and the holy of holies is accessible to you through the doorway of the Spirit in your heart.
But let Me explain. In the first forty days that Moses was on Mt. Sinai with Me in the cloud of knowing My presence, I spent most of our time together on a topic very dear to My heart. It was not the commandments, because if you understand the tabernacle, the commandments are not an issue. Love never harms the neighbor; it is the fulfillment of the Law.
I disclosed to Moses the desire of My heart. To dwell among you and be your everything. Everything you need and an abundance for every good work. I spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins dyed red, badger skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.” Exodus 25:1-9.
Twelve of the forty chapters of Exodus discuss the tabernacle in specific detail and lay out all the plans for it to the exact measurement. There are not twelve chapters only about one specific matter other than the tabernacle in the entire Bible. Why is the tabernacle so important?
Why so much detail? Why did I tell Moses it had to be constructed exactly to the plans I gave him to the smallest detail? Exodus 25:8-9. And in the book of Hebrews you read: “They (the Levite priests) serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:5.
The plan of the tabernacle (“mishkan” in Hebrew, meaning a dwelling place) reveals the path of Salvation. It shows you about Jesus. It shows the desires of My Heart are to be dwelling among you and walking with you on your journey of life to direct your steps and fight your battles for you and with you. But it also shows you, by the sacrifices and offerings made there and what they were for, that I atone and pay for all of your sins, failings, guilt, shame, peace, and prosperity in Jesus. It shows you that I give you everything you need for life (physical) and godliness (spiritual) in Jesus.
So consider the Tabernacle in the wilderness. It was unique and intricate in its structure and function. The structure with all its many furnishings, tapestries, curtains, walls, gates, and utensils could be folded up and carried through the desert and set up again each time the Israelites stopped. It was very precise as to measurements so this would work. I alone planned it, as I did later with David for the plans for the temple Solomon built, which was larger but was a replica of the plans I gave Moses, but it could not be folded up and taken on a journey. That was no longer needed.
Moses and the people took My plan and ran with it. I give you a creative plan of beauty and then I give the skill and the desire to you, who were planned in My heart from all eternity to carry it out. You can do nothing without Me, but, in the world, I do nothing without you. You have a part in My plan of salvation. You are included in the story told by the Tabernacle. And you who are reading it now are close to the fulfillment of the appointed times that were celebrated there.
But let us look at the basic plan and enter the gate of the outer court together.
The gate to the outer court faces east, the place of the sunrise, it is the beginning of your journey of salvation and eternal life. You enter through the beautiful tapestry of blue, red, purple and gold with the design of cherubim upon it, and please note that everything has meaning, the blue represents that from Heaven, red represents man (“Adam”), and purple is the color of royalty. When My Son united God with Man in His perfect being as the God-Man, blue mixed with red and became purple, and the same happens for you, when you receive Jesus as Lord, My Spirit joins with your spirit and you are born again as a new creation in Christ as a royal priesthood, hence represented by purple color. And gold represents My righteousness.
As you enter the gate on the east, which is the only way you can enter the tabernacle, there is only one door in, and Christ is the only door to Me, your enter the outer court which is a courtyard open to the sky that is surrounded by an enclosure of white linen as curtains joined to bronze pillars with silver rings. Bronze is the metal representing judgment and silver represents redemption and the white linen represents you having washed your robes in the Blood of My Son making you pure, blameless, and righteous with My own righteousness. As you enter you are facing the bronze altar where the burnt offering, sin offering, guilt offering, and peace offering, and other offerings listed in Leviticus are offered. So you would have come bringing your sacrifice. Bronze is the metal that symbolizes judgment so the altar was made of that for the burnt offerings. Your sins were judged and punished on Christ.
Let us say you had brought a perfect young lamb without blemish in atonement for your sin. The priest will inspect the lamb, if it is perfect, that is, without fault, the priest will have you lay your hand upon the lamb and your sin will transfer to the lamb and its purity will transfer to you. You then slay the lamb and the priest collects the blood as atonement and puts it on the altar. He then takes the lamb and burns it to ashes on the bronze altar (like a barbecue grill) as your burnt offering. Leviticus 1. In the book of Hebrews I tell you that Jesus is your burnt offering. He has given you beauty for your ashes.
The blood from the sacrifices in atonement for your sins and the sins of the nation was poured out on the altar and it was also taken into the propitiatory (Mercy Seat) in the Holy of Holies. This is a shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross once for all and His taking His blood to the Holy of Holies in Heaven and placing it on the true propitiatory (Mercy Seat) to ever intercede for you, continually cleansing you, and paying for and atoning for all your sins whenever you commit them.
Next, after sacrificing the lamb on the bronze altar and sprinkling the blood, the priest would approach the laver to wash his hands and feet before he entered the inner court, the first Holy place. The laver symbolizes baptism and entering into the inner court of the Church, the Body of Christ.
In the inner court, the Holy place, the Menorah was placed on the south side, the table with the Bread of My presence on the North side, and the golden altar of incense in the middle before the curtain that veiled the Holy of Holies from view. Jesus is the Light of the world and the bread of the presence is Communion. The altar of incense is where your prayers before My throne, with the holy angels adding heavenly incense to it. Thus the cherubim on the design of the veil. The walls of the inner court, the Holy Place, were made of acacia wood boards covered in solid gold standing on silver pedestals. These symbolize believers standing before Me. Wood represent man (like a tree planted near running water), the gold covering represents when you are clothed in My righteousness in Christ, and the boards stand on silver pedestals, which is redemption. You are on redemption ground.
Going west through the inner court or Holy place you come to the veil that separates the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest could enter this place in a cloud of incense from the golden altar bringing the blood of the spotless lamb. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant, which is a shadow of Jesus. It was formed of wood (representing He became man), covered in solid gold (representing that He is God), in it were the ten commandments I had written on the stone tablets (Jesus keeps all My commandments for you), a jar of manna (Jesus is the true manna come down from Heaven), and the rod of Aaron, the High Priest, that budded (Jesus is your great High Priest) and closing it was the solid gold lid called the “propitiatory” or “Mercy seat” where the blood was sprinkled in atonement for sins and covering the ark so that the commandments were covered. And on the Mercy Seat were two Cherubim of gold as if hovering over it with their wings covering it. It was there I would speak, in the secret place of the Holy of Holies. Now you come confidently right into the Holy of Holies with your great High Priest, Jesus, and obtain grace and mercy with confident assurance from Me, your God and Father. For you enter holy and blameless, having been atoned for, washed clean, paid for, and cleansed by the Blood of Jesus.
And I would like to elaborate more about the placement of the tabernacle. As I have said, the entrance to the outer court faces east, that is to the sunrise, so the journey begins there. It ends facing west, the direction of the sunset, meaning the end of the journey and headed home to the Kingdom of Heaven. North is considered the direction of Heaven, so the table of the Bread of My Presence (Bread of His Face in Hebrew) is set up on the north side, for Jesus is the Bread come down from Heaven, the true heavenly bread. The Menorah is on the south side because that signifies the world and Jesus is the Light of the world. My glory lights Heaven and Jesus is its lamp. But while you are in the world, which Adam put into the realm of darkness, He is the Light of the world. If you follow His light you will never walk in darkness.
The golden altar of incense and the Holy of Holies through the veil with only the Ark of the Covenant in it are in the west end of the Tabernacle, signifying the arrival in your full stature as My sons who can come with confidence to My throne to intercede for others and obtain all they need for themselves as well. It is walking closely with God in perfect shalom. There was no disturbance in the Holy of Holies, all was still and peaceful. And it was there I spoke to Moses from above the Mercy Seat and it is the same for you in your secret place of prayer in your hearts where you access the Kingdom of Heaven by the Blood of Jesus and the Word of your testimony. By the One Spirit you all enter, for the password to enter behind the veil is “Jesus is Lord,” and no one can say that except by the Holy Spirit.
There is still so much to show you in the plans I gave to Moses, especially in the garments of the High Priest, but that for another day.
I love you. All these things I did with you in mind. I am your God. I am your Salvation. My All is yours.