Exodus 40:17-27
We are now coming to the setting up of this mysterious interesting tent called in the King James Version, the Tabernacle. In my last blog on Exodus 33 Moses said, “If thy presence does not go with me carry me not hence.” Now as the Israelites would travel through the wilderness two things represented the presence of God. One was the pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. This represented God leading and protecting them. Then there was the Tabernacle tent that represented His presence. What was in the Tabernacle? First, of all there was an altar where sacrifices were offered for various reasons, especially various kinds of sin. Then there was a sort of worshipful altar called the altar of incense to send up a sweet smell to God. Then there was the Holiest of all the inner court representing the very presence of God. In this was the ark with the mercy seat where the High Priest would go once a year to atone for the sins of Israel. I could say more but now I want to take you to a passage in Colossians 2:17. “All these thing are for a shadow, but the body is Christ.” In some way this whole tent and all that is in it somehow symbolically represented what would be accomplished in Christ. His death as the Lamb of God for our sins would answer for all that this Tabernacle represented.
