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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The outer courtyard of the Tabernacle was 100 cubits long and 50 cubits wide. Each long side had 20 wood posts, and each short side had ten, so there were 60 posts in all. As we will see, 5 is the main denominator running through all the Tabernacle measurements, which is a symbol of the ministry (first the Levitical ministry, then the fivefold ministry of the New Testament – see Ephesians 4:11). So the 60 posts that made up the surrounding partition of the sacred courtyard were 12 x 5. Twelve is the number of biblical foundations (12 Tribes, 12 Patriarchs, 12 Apostles) and in the New Testament the spiritual foundation is the revealed doctrine.

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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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Construction of the Ark - The Lord instructed the Israelites to make the Ark of the Covenant out of acacia wood, like most of the items in the Tabernacle, and then to overlay the wood with pure gold on every side, inside and out. When a person saw the Ark, they saw a large golden chest, more than one meter long (two and a half cubits), and less than one meter high.  (see Exodus 25:10-21; Exodus 37:1-6).

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Exodus 27:9-10 – “Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. . .”

While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God told them to make a large portable temple that they could carry with them and set up wherever they encamped. This is how we define the “Tabernacle” now, although the word originally meant simply “a tent.” More than one-third of the book of Exodus focuses on God’s revelations about how to make the Tabernacle, and on the Israelites’ construction of it according to God’s plans.

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Exodus 30:8-10 – “Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.  He must burn incense again when he lights the lamps at twilight so incense will burn regularly before the Lord for the generations to come.  Do not offer on this altar any other incense or any burnt offering or grain offering, and do not pour a drink offering on it.  Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns.  This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come.  It is most holy to the Lord…”

The Altar of Incense teaches us valuable lessons about prayer, intercession, and the Work of the Lord Jesus in our midst.   It was one of the three furnishings inside the Holy Place, along with the Table of Showbread and the Lampstand.  The Altar of Incense stood closest to the Ark of the Covenant, where God would manifest his presence in a special way. 

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Exodus 30:1-6 - ”Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.  It is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high —its horns of one piece with it.  Overlay the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.  Make two gold rings for the altar below the molding—two on opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it.  Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.  Put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony—before the atonement cover that is over the Testimony—where I will meet with you…”

ACACIA WOOD & GOLD – The Lord instructed the Israelites to make the Altar of Incense from acacia wood, and then to overlay it with gold.  Acacia is a soft wood from a tree that grows in the desert; it produces long, sharp thorns like those used for the crown of thorns that the Roman soldiers forced onto Jesus’ brow.  Jesus Christ was both human and divine – this is one of the mysteries of the Gospel. 

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The Altar of Incense was one of the three furnishings inside the Holy Place, along with the Table of Showbread and the Lampstand.  The Altar of Incense stood closest to the Ark of the Covenant, where God would manifest his presence in a special way.  Today it teaches us valuable lessons about prayer, intercession, and the Work of the Lord Jesus in our midst.   

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