Introduction: Read Exodus26

I approached this chapter on the Tabernacle with a degree of foreboding. What can you say about a tent! Yet a whole chapter is devoted to its features. If I have learned anything from my study of Scripture it is that there are lessons to be learned from even the most unpromising passages.

There are a few pictures of the church in the New Testament. It is likened to a body, a building and an army. I think the Tabernacle can be used as an object lesson to illustrate certain important characteristics of the Christian church.

The Tabernacle was:

(1) Designed.

God gave Moses specific instructions on how he wanted his tent to be. Every feature, its dimensions,its materials and its ornamentation, was spelled out by God.

God used the apostle Paul to provide guidance on what the church should be. In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul emphasised certain key characteristics: unity, mutual respect, diversity of gifts, love for one another, orderly worship and humble leadership.

(2) Composite.

For all God designed the tabernacle it was left to men and women to make it. This was no easy task and it took a great variety of skills to make, erect and maintain the Tabernacle. Some of the crafts required are described in Exodus 35 v30 to 35. The following were needed: gold and silver smiths, workers in bronze, jewellers, carpenters, sculptors, rope makers, spinners, dyers, weavers and embroiderers. People were also needed who knew how to erect, dismantle and transport the Tabernacle.

I am reminded of the small group of men who belong to the tent committee of the association of churches to which I belong. They are practical individuals who undertake the erection and dismantling of the large marquee and other tents used at the Annual Meetings of the Association.

Paul writes tellingly of the diversity of gifts the Holy Spirit gives to the members of God's church. See 1Corv12v1to30. We each have different gifts and they can all be used to the glory of Christ's church.

(3) Precious.

The Tabernacle rested on a foundation of cast, grooved, silver tablets. There were 96 of these. So the foundation was very precious. They had to be laid perfectly level otherwise the whole tent would be put out.

Jesus is the foundation of the Christian church. He is very precious - the one and only Son of God, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, full of grace and truth. The church stands on the matchless character and perfect integrity of Jesus. Any local expression of Christ's church that fails to give Jesus his proper place will be a sad distortion of God's intended model.

(4) Firm.

The Tabernacle was a hybrid structure. It wasn't a true tent because it had wooden walls. The walls were made of gold covered panels of acacia wood that slotted together. The description of these panels is not very clear. The meaning of the phrase, with two projections set parallel to each other, is not easy to understand. Bruckner reckons it means the panels were made of two parallel posts held together by three horizontal rungs. There is some evidence for this: There were two silver bases for each panel - one for each leg of the panel. You would not need a rung close to the bases but I imagine one was needed at the very top to produce a smooth, level and continuous rail for the canvas to be pulled over. The panels were 15 feet high and 2 feet and 3 inches wide. Each one looked a bit like a ladder with widely spaced rungs. The construction of the panels kept the weight down and also allowed the beauty of the inner tent to be seen in the walls. Added strength was give to the walls by five gold covered poles that ran horizontally along the length of the side and back walls. They ran through rings set into the vertical posts. The wooden walls were what the fabric of the inner and outer tent were draped across. The structure needed to be sturdy because the weight of the canvas was considerable.

We need to ask what gives firmness, strength and stability to the church. I would say it is its core beliefs - beliefs held by the great majority of Christians. These beliefs are stated in the Nicene Creed:

I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made;
Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man,
And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried,
And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures,
And ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of the Father.
And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead:
Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost,
The Lord and giver of life,
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,
Who spake by the Prophets.
And I believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church.
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
And I look for the Resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come.

To have a creed, to recite it and to believe it gives great and abiding strength to the church.

(5) Beautiful.

The inner tent was made by taking five curtains each 42 feet long by 6 feet wide. These were sewn together along the 42 foot long sides to make a curtain 42 feet by 30 feet. Then the two large curtains were attached along the 42 feet side by loops and clasps to make a big curtain 42 feet by 60 feet.

The fabric of the inner tent was made of blue, purple and scarlet linen thread woven together. I imagine that cherubim were embroidered onto the colourful fabric. All of this required great skill. The result was a tapestry of great beauty.

The church, made up as it is of all genuine Christians, should be a work of equally great beauty. It is, after all, a product of God's grace, Christ's mercy and the Holy Spirit's enlightenment. Christians at their best display grace through a spirit of forgiveness, mercy in deeds of benevolence and kindness and enlighten others about the saving work of Jesus.

These are the qualities that beautify the church rather than fine architecture, stirring music or great poetry although all of these may help.

(6) Protected.

A canvas of woven goat's hair was made which when all the 11 strips were joined together measured 45 feet by 66 feet. This meant the canvas could be pegged down at the sides and the back of the Tabernacle. It left 6 feet of canvas at the front that could be folded back from the entrance to give a double layer.

The goat's hair canvas was black, tough and waterproof. It was functional and protected the inner tent from the elements. Many modern frame tents are like this. The inner tent is made of something like cotton and is light and insect proof. The outer tent is heavier, waterproof, held up by the frame and tied down by pegs. I spent all my summer holidays for nearly 50 years in a tent like this!

There is no doubt that God protects his church notwithstanding the numerous vicious attacks made upon it. From earliest times the church has been persecuted but this has usually resulted in growth rather than decline. This happened when the Christians in Jerusalem were persecuted in the time of the apostles. Christians dispersed taking the gospel all over the Roman Empire. It happened over 1900 years later when the church in China was driven underground by the Communists. Hundreds of house churches sprang up. Today, militant Muslims seem intent on eradicating the church in countries where they are in the majority but the ultimate outcome will not be as they intend.

Just a word about the humble guy ropes and tent pegs that hold down the canvas. I think they might well represent God's praying saints.

(7) Portable.

It seems probable that the leather made from ram's skins and seal's skins was used to manufacture large bags for transporting the fabric of the Tabernacle. Two layers of leather on top of the goat hair outer tent would just be too heavy.

The Tabernacle and its contents were designed to be portable. The tent could be dismantled, carried to the next destination and re-erected.

This is, perhaps, a picture of the church militant. It is always moving on to find fresh territory to conquer. The church does not stand still. It has proved adaptable to all circumstances and acceptable in all cultures.

In the words of the hymn:

Onward Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ the royal Master
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle, see, his banners go!

The Tabernacle was special in many different ways. It was made of expensive materials, the inner tent was beautiful and illuminated by constantly burning lamps. However, one thing strikes me as very unusual and that is the height of the tent. 15 feet is very high for a frame tent. It made the Tabernacle hard to erect. A very large canvas had to be draped over the wooden frame. It would involve many men on ladders. The weight of materials also made the Tabernacle cumbersome to transport.

So why was it so tall? It may have been to accommodate the burned incense. It would be inconvenient to burn incense in a low tent! It also meant the Tabernacle stood out from all the other tents. It was God's dwelling.

There are all sorts of religions, sects, cults and organisations but there is only one at whose heart is God. That is what makes the church unique.

(9) Humble.

The Tabernacle was a special tent - BUT when all is said and done it remained a tent - a humble abode for the creator of the universe.

Important men require palatial abodes. I read last week of Richard Branson's Caribbean Island retreat. A member of the public could share it for the week for about £10, 000.

God dwelt in a tent, God became man and dwelt among us and God is in his church. Maybe it is not so hard to believe that God is there in a mega church with a congregation of thousands with passionate singing and dynamic preaching or in a great cathedral church with its magnificent architecture, splendid choir and gracious language - but in a tiny Grace Baptist fellowship whose congregation is almost too old to stand up to sing the hymns and the organist struggles to play with arthritic fingers - that's harder to believe. But what did Jesus say? He said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst." What humility!