Exodus 25:23-30 - ”Make a table of acacia wood.  Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it.  Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are.  The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them. And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings.  Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.”

The Lord revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai all the details for Israel’s portable Tabernacle, which they carried from place to place in the wilderness. These details contain spiritual lessons for the faithful church today, who does not live on bread alone, but rather by every word revealed by God. In the Tabernacle’s tent of meeting was a gold table to hold the bread of the Presence.

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Exodus 26:1 – “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman . . . Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether.  All eleven curtains are to be the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide . . . The tent curtains will be a cubit  longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it.  Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows…”

TENT OF MEETING – This structure, commonly called the “Tabernacle,” contained both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. After passing through outer gates of the court, past the bronze altar, and bronze basin (all covered in other lessons) the priests would be standing before this Holy Place. It was made of boards overlaid with gold. Covering the gold structure were layers of curtains.

Four coverings or layers covered the Tabernacle. The first was made of ten panels of finely twisted linen in various colors adorned with embroidery. Each panel was 4 cubits x 7 cubits, 28 square cubits. They were five on each side. The second layer was eleven panels of goat hair, each 30 cubits long and 4 wide, joined together in two pieces and fastened by loops and clasps of brass. The third layer was rams’ skins dyed red, and the fourth was of sea cows or dugongs, which were not very attractive. The outer layers were larger than the innermost layers so the inner layers were completely hidden.

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Exodus 27:16 – “For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer—with four posts and four bases.”

The Tabernacle in the wilderness was a portable temple that the Israelites would carry from place to place during their journey to the Promised Land. Surrounding this portable temple was courtyard whose outer perimeter was a curtain by a curtain composed primarily of finely twisted linen. There was only one entrance, a “gate” that was really four curtains of different colors. Prophetically this foreshadows Jesus Christ, who is the only way to come to salvation. Jesus also said “I am the gate” or “door” (John 10:9).

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Exodus 27:1-8 – “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain…”

These verses are just a few among the many the Lord revealed to Moses for the construction of the wilderness Tabernacle. Upon entering into it’s courtyard the BRONZE was the the first thing one would see. This altar was where the burnt offering was offered to atone for one’s sins. It would be impossible to pass beyond that point without this reminder. Jesus would later explain that He is the only way, truth and life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

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Exodus 10:23 - “…Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.”

God’s plan is not just for us to have traditional or conventional family units or roles within the household, but to have the church members have their household indwelt with the Light, the Holy Spirit’s revelation. Our relationship with God should permeate our entire household and bring his light to our family members. continue

Exodus 12:21 – Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb…  

Moses was preparing the people to leave slavery in Egypt: a prophetic event that points to our days. Today the Holy Spirit is also preparing his church for the exit from this world: the rapture.

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Exodus 13:21 - “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud … and by night in a pillar of fire …” 

When the Lord called his people Israel out of Egypt, He called them with the intent to guard them and to deliver them completely from the hand of Pharaoh.  

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Exodus 16:31 - “The people of Israel called the bread manna.  It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.”  

The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt with many signs and wonders.  Even so, the Hebrews rebelled against the Lord and complained that they had no food to eat.  The Lord had a plan to provide for His people.  Each morning when the dew on the ground dried, thin white flakes appeared on the ground.  God commanded them to gather manna each morning but only as much as they needed for that day.  He provided this food for them for forty years as they followed Him in the desert.   continue

Exodus 17:9 - Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.  Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

Moses once again was holding the staff of God in his hand.  This is the same staff that the Lord used to give Moses a sign when he first encountered the Lord (see Ex. 4:2-20), and that God had used in bringing plagues on Egypt (Exodus 9:23; 10:13), and for parting the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:16; 17:5).   continue

Exodus 21:5-6 - “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”

This talks about servants or slaves in the Old Testament, but illustrates how we become the Lord’s servants today.  There is a similar passage in Deuteronomy 15:16-17.  Israelites had to release any Hebrew slaves or servants after seven years.  Even so, the servant could remain in the position permanently if he wanted to. The original languages of the Bible do not have differentiated terms for “slave” and “servant” as we do in English.   continue