Exodus 25 — A Sanctuary, That I May Dwell Among Them

Today’s Passage: Exodus 25

Here the book turns a corner, and the change of key is worth feeling before we read a single line. For chapters we have watched thunder and fire and blood at the foot of Sinai, and now, quite suddenly, the LORD begins to speak of gold and blue yarn and acacia wood, of rings and poles and almond blossoms hammered out of a single piece. A reader can be forgiven for wondering why the Bible slows down to give the measurements of a piece of furniture. But do not hurry past it, for buried in the middle of these instructions is one of the most astonishing sentences in all of Scripture, the reason for every cubit and every talent that follows. God says, let them make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. That is the whole point of the tabernacle, and it is a marvel almost too large to take in: the holy God who shook the mountain, before whom the people could not so much as touch the base of Sinai, now purposes to come down and pitch His tent in the very middle of a redeemed and stiff-necked people, and to be found among them. Everything in this chapter, the ark and its golden lid, the table with its bread, the lampstand with its seven lamps, is arranged around that purpose. And every piece of it, we shall find, was a shadow thrown forward across the centuries, pointing to the day when God would dwell among us in flesh, and open through His Son the way into His own presence that all this gold could only picture.

As you read, hold this: God gave the pattern for a sanctuary so that the holy God might dwell in the midst of a redeemed people, and every golden thing in it was a shadow of Christ, in whom God has come to dwell with us and has opened the way into His presence.

Exodus 25:1-9 (BSB)

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive My offering from every man whose heart compels him. ³ This is the offering you are to accept from them: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁴ blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ⁵ ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; ⁶ olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; ⁷ and onyx stones and gemstones to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. ⁸ And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. ⁹ You must make the tabernacle and design all its furnishings according to the pattern I show you.

Do not let the long list of materials rush you along, for the way this work begins tells us much about the God who commands it. The first thing He asks for is an offering, and He asks that it be received only from every man whose heart compels him. God will build His dwelling out of gifts freely given, not payments wrung from unwilling hands, and there is grace even in that. A people lately in chains are invited to open their treasures and have a share in the house of God, and the gold and silver they bring is the very wealth their Redeemer had already put into their hands on the night they left Egypt. So the giving is really a returning, a redeemed people offering back to God out of what God first gave them.

Then, in the middle of the list, comes the sentence that governs everything: let them make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them. Weigh those last words. The God of Sinai, whose glory looked like a consuming fire on the mountaintop, means to come down and dwell (שָׁכַן) shakan, pronounced shah-KHAN. Strong's H7931, to dwell, settle down, abide, take up residence. The whole tabernacle hangs on this one verb. In verse 8, so that I may dwell among them, this word carries the sense of settling down, taking up residence, pitching one’s tent and staying put. From this root comes the noun mishkan, the very name of the tabernacle, which means simply the dwelling place, the place where God settles down to live. And from the same root the later rabbis drew the word Shekinah, the visible glory of God dwelling with His people. So this single verb carries the astonishing heart of the matter: the God of heaven wishes to move in and dwell, right in the middle of a camp of redeemed sinners. in the very midst of the camp, to make His home among a people of unclean lips. This is the deepest longing of the whole story, God with His people, and here it takes visible shape in a tent of gold and cloth. And at once He adds the rule that will be repeated at the end of the chapter, that Moses must make it all according to the pattern I show you. The dwelling of God is not left to human imagination. It is drawn to a heavenly design and handed down, because what is being built is a copy of realities in heaven itself.

And no Christian can read this word without hearing its echo far down the ages in the opening of John’s Gospel. When John writes that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, he reaches for the Greek word that means to pitch a tent, to tabernacle, and behind it stands this Hebrew hope of God settling down among His people. What the golden tent at Sinai could only picture, God did in fullness in His Son, coming to dwell among us in a body like ours, so that men beheld His glory not as a fire on a far mountain but in the face of Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was the promise; the incarnation was the keeping of it. God has come to dwell among us.

Exodus 25:10-16 (BSB)

¹⁰ And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ¹¹ Overlay it with pure gold both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. ¹² Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other. ¹³ And make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, in order to carry it. ¹⁵ The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be removed. ¹⁶ And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.

The first thing God asks to be made is the ark, and its place in the list is its place in importance, for this chest is the most sacred object Israel would ever own. Pass lightly over the measurements, which matter less than the meaning, and look instead at what the ark is. It is a box of humble acacia wood, but overlaid with pure gold both inside and out, so that whether you looked upon it or could have seen within it, all was gold. It was to be carried by poles that were never to be removed, always ready to move, for the dwelling of God among a pilgrim people had to travel as they traveled. And into it Moses was to place the Testimony, that is, the two tablets of the covenant law that God was about to give him.

Hold that last detail, for it is full of meaning. At the very center of the sanctuary, in the innermost chest, lay the law of God, the covenant Israel had sworn to keep and would so soon break. The holy demand of God rested in the heart of the tent, and no sinful people could stand over that law and live. The wood spoke of something ordinary and earthly, the gold of something holy and divine, the two joined in one object, and inside it the righteous requirement of God. Everything now waits for one more thing to be made, a covering to go over that law, for a broken covenant lying open in the presence of a holy God could only bring judgment. What that law needed was a lid, and God is about to describe it.

Exodus 25:17-22 (BSB)

¹⁷ And you are to construct a mercy seat of pure gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ¹⁸ Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat, ¹⁹ one cherub on one end and one on the other, all made from one piece of gold. ²⁰ And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat. ²¹ Set the mercy seat atop the ark and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark. ²² And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

Now we come to the holiest thing in the whole chapter, and I would have you read these verses slowly, for here the gospel is hidden in gold. Over the ark, over the broken law within it, God commands a covering to be laid, a lid of pure gold called the mercy seat, and from its two ends, beaten out of the same single piece of gold, rise two cherubim with their wings spread upward and their faces bent down toward the lid between them. The cherubim are the guardians of God’s holiness, the same order of creatures set to guard the way back to Eden with a flaming sword, and here they bend over this golden lid and gaze upon it. What are they looking at? A place of blood. For once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would carry blood into this innermost room and sprinkle it upon this very lid, over the law that accused the people, and the blood would come between the holy God above and the broken covenant below.

That is why it is called the mercy seat (כַּפֹּרֶת) kapporet, pronounced kap-po-RET. Strong's H3727, mercy seat, the atonement cover. Of all the words in this chapter, this is the one to carry home. The golden lid over the ark is the kapporet, and the word comes from the root kaphar, which means to cover, and in the language of Israel’s worship, to cover sin, to atone, to make peace by a covering. So the lid is not merely the top of a box; it is the cover of atonement, the very place where the covering of sin was made. On the Day of Atonement the high priest sprinkled blood upon this kapporet, over the accusing law inside the ark, and God, who promised to appear above it between the cherubim, met His people there in mercy rather than in judgment. The name itself preaches the gospel: the place where God meets sinners is the place where sin is covered by blood. , the place of atonement, and that is why God says the words that crown the whole tabernacle: I will meet with you there. Above the mercy seat, between the cherubim, God would come down to meet His people and to speak. Consider what this means. A holy God and a guilty people needed a place to meet, and it could not be over the bare law, for the law could only condemn. It had to be over the blood-sprinkled lid, where mercy covered the broken commandment. So God appointed one spot in all the earth where He and sinners could meet in peace, and it was a place of covering blood. This is no small picture. It is the shape of salvation itself, drawn in gold, that God meets with sinners only where atoning blood has come between His holiness and their guilt. And the New Testament will take this very golden lid and lift it to its true height, telling us that God set forth His own Son as the mercy seat, the place of atonement in His blood, so that now the meeting place between God and man is not a lid of gold in a tent, but Christ Himself.

And this is the word that flowers into the very center of the New Testament. When the Greek Old Testament rendered kapporet, it used the word hilastērion, the place of atonement, and Paul takes up that exact word and lays it upon the Lord Jesus. God, he says, presented Christ as the hilastērion, the mercy seat, the atoning sacrifice in His blood. Do you see what he is claiming? The golden lid was only ever a picture; Christ is the reality. He is the place where the holy God and guilty sinners meet in peace, because His own blood has come between our broken law and God’s righteous throne. The high priest went in once a year with the blood of a bull; the Son of God went in once for all with His own. Every time Israel looked toward that golden lid between the cherubim, God was teaching them to look ahead to the true mercy seat, His Son, in whom we are met, forgiven, and brought home.

Exodus 25:23-30 (BSB)

²³ You are also to make a table of acacia wood two cubits long, a cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. ²⁴ Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it. ²⁵ And make a rim around it a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim. ²⁶ Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners at its four legs. ²⁷ The rings are to be close to the rim, to serve as holders for the poles used to carry the table. ²⁸ Make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them. ²⁹ You are also to make the plates and dishes, as well as the pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them out of pure gold. ³⁰ And place the Bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.

We move now out of the innermost room into the holy place, and the first piece of furniture there is a table, again of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold, with its plates and dishes and pitchers, and set upon it always was the Bread of the Presence. Do not linger on the rings and the rim; look at the bread and what it says. Twelve loaves, one for each tribe, were to be laid out fresh upon this table and to remain before the LORD at all times, in His very presence, week after week without fail. It is a picture of fellowship, and of a particular kind, the fellowship of a shared table. In every age and every land, to sit and eat at a man’s table is the sign of peace and welcome between you, and God set a spread table in His house to say that His redeemed people were welcome in His presence, held there continually, fed and kept before His face.

Remember what stood only a room away, the mercy seat where atoning blood was sprinkled, and you will see how the two belong together. Because the blood covered the broken law, the people could be welcomed to the table; because atonement was made, fellowship could be enjoyed. The bread laid before God at all times says that this is no fleeting visit but an abiding communion, a people kept perpetually in the presence of their God and provided for by His hand. And here too the shadow stretches forward, to the One who would call Himself the bread of life, who feeds His people not with loaves that grow stale but with Himself, and who keeps His own at His table forever. The table in the holy place was teaching Israel to hope for a fellowship with God that would never be broken and a bread that would never fail.

Exodus 25:31-40 (BSB)

³¹ Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals. ³² Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ³³ There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand. ³⁴ And on the lampstand there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with buds and petals. ³⁵ For the six branches that extend from the lampstand, a bud must be under the first pair of branches, a bud under the second pair, and a bud under the third pair. ³⁶ The buds and branches are to be all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. ³⁷ Make seven lamps and set them up on the lampstand so that they illuminate the area in front of it. ³⁸ The wick trimmers and their trays must be of pure gold. ³⁹ The lampstand and all these utensils shall be made from a talent of pure gold. ⁴⁰ See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

The last piece in the holy place is the lampstand, and of all the furniture it is described most lovingly, for it was made in the shape of a living thing. Out of a single talent of pure gold, hammered from one piece, rose a central shaft with six branches, three on either side, and every branch and the shaft itself was worked into cups shaped like almond blossoms, with their buds and their petals, so that the whole stood in the tent like a golden flowering tree bearing seven lamps of light. You need not count the cups to feel the meaning. In a windowless room where no sun ever reached, this tree of gold burned day and night, and its seven lamps were never to go out. Light in the presence of God, light that men did not kindle from the sun but that burned from the appointed lamps of the sanctuary, always shining before the face of the LORD.

There is deep comfort in a lamp that never goes dark. In the house of God there was no night, no season when the light failed, but a steady flame that God provided and God sustained. And once more the shadow points ahead, for the One who would come to tabernacle among us called Himself the light of the world, the true light that the darkness has never overcome, and He gathers His people to be lights in their turn, burning from a flame not their own. Then, at the very last, the chapter closes as it began, with the solemn charge: see to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Not a cubit of it was left to Moses to invent, because none of it was merely his. It was a copy of a heavenly reality, a shadow cast down onto earth in gold and cloth, so that Israel might see in a tent what God was preparing to give them in full in His Son.