The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary: Genesis 1 to Exodus 27

By Dennis Herman

This book uses a verse by verse approach to understand the Tabernacle. When I prayed about starting this book, the answer was, “at the beginning.” After I began writing, that made sense. To understand the Tabernacle, we have to understand God's personality. That's when items in the Tabernacle began to come alive.

What better way to understand the Tabernacle then to study the subject the way Moses recorded it? I can't think of a better way. I'm sure after reading this book, you'll agree. Can anyone improve on the sequence God gave Moses?

The Tabernacle reflects Jesus' personality as well as His dedication, ambitions, and goals. The Tabernacle is like Jesus' application to this world to be their Messiah, Savior, God, King, High Priest, and Friend.

This book shows how a series of stories in the Bible led to the Israelites leaving Egypt, covers the collection of materials for the Tabernacle, as well as instructions and directions God gave to Moses to build the Tabernacle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329528789

Book preview

The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary: Genesis 1 to Exodus 27

The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary

Genesis 1 to Exodus 27

Written by Dennis Herman

Copyright © 2015 Dennis Herman

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-329-52878-9

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Published by: Lulu.com

The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary: Genesis 1 to Exodus 27 by Dennis Herman

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Bibles:

NLTse New Living. Translation®. SECOND EDITION Tyndale House Publishers, Inc

KJV King James Version

MKJV Modern King James Version Sovereign Grace Publishers

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) (NLTse) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary

Genesis 1 to Exodus 27

Think of a job interview for a moment. What is the purpose of a job interview? Among other things, a job interview looks at the personality of the applicant. An interview also looks at the skills of the applicant as well as their ambition, and goats.

In a sense, a job reflects a portion of a person's personality. That is true to a greater degree when that person dedicates their life to their job. Isn't that true when that job requires that person to dedicate their entire life to that job?

When we look at that from a different perspective, we see how the Tabernacle reflected much more than Jesus' ministry. The Tabernacle reflects Jesus' personality as well as His dedication, ambitions, and goals. The Tabernacle is like Jesus' application to this world to be their Messiah, Savior, God, King, High Priest, and Friend. Jesus never forced Himself on anyone. But He did give Moses that pattern for the Tabernacle, a description of His life and Ministry in this world as well as Heaven.

I don't think anyone has taken a verse by verse approach to writing a book about the Tabernacle. When I prayed about this book, I asked God where to start. Of course the answer was, at the beginning. After I began writing, that made sense. To understand the Tabernacle, we have to understand God's personality. That's when items in the Tabernacle begin to come alive.

What better way to understand the Tabernacle then to study the subject the way Moses recorded it? I can't think of a better way. I'm sure after reading this book, you'll also agree. Can anyone improve on the sequence God gave Moses? I don't think so.

The goal of this book was to keep printing costs to a minimum. So I decided to release this book in sections. The first part, this book deals with how a series of stories in the Bible led to the Israelites leaving Egypt. It also covers the collection of materials for the Tabernacle, as well as instructions and directions God gave to Moses to build the Tabernacle.

The next book in the series deals with qualities of the priesthood, including a close examination of the role of the high priest. It also includes a look at the sacrificial system. Lessons for the priesthood began when God called Moses. Lessons for the priesthood are also ingrained in the plagues experienced in Egypt, and continued throughout the wilderness journey. It became evident there was a vast learning differential between Moses and the people he led out of Egypt. Moses spent years away from Egypt where he could learn about God. When he was ready, God called Moses to His mountain. Moses was light years ahead of those people he led out of Egypt. When we take the verse by verse approach, we can see God's patients, as well as techniques He used to get things they learned in Egypt out of His people.

Once finished, this series of books will cover the Tabernacle, temple, and Heavenly Sanctuary comparing each of them while dwelling on their roles, and lessons revealing God's plan of salvation for this world.

Chapter 1 Creation and The Genesis Promise

Creation

I've had dozens of details about the Tabernacle, stone temple, and Heavenly Sanctuary dancing around my head for months. There are so many stores related to the Tabernacle throughout the Bible, as well as many stores showing how the stone temple swayed from one religion to the other. One of the most neglected messages in the Bible may be the Heavenly Sanctuary. I'm not sure if anyone has taken the task of writing a book to look at similarities and differences between the three. I've read a few books that combined the Tabernacle and stone temple as if they were one of the same. After I looked into a few of the actual details, materials, and symbols used in the stone temple, I began to see an obvious pattern as well as lessons to consider.

One rule I'd like to follow throughout this book is to be consistent using the three names. The Tabernacle refers to the Tabernacle built by Moses. The stone temple, better known as Solomon's temple, and following structures on the same site will be referred to as the temple. Sanctuary will refer to the Heavenly Sanctuary. For the most part, the KJV consistently followed the same rule. The KJV consistently translates Hebrew and Greek words the same throughout chapters and books in the Bible. When conducting a word search, I usually rely on the KJV's consistency to quickly locate key words in chapters and books throughout the Bible.

Of course I prayed before starting this book. I asked, where is the best place to begin a story about the Tabernacle? I never thought of this before, but the answer I received was obvious. At the beginning. When I thought of the answer, it made sense. What does the Tabernacle basically represent? The story of salvation. Where does that story begin? In Genesis chapter 1.

When we see water in the Tabernacle, we should be reminded of one or more texts about water. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.(Genesis 1:1-2 NLTse). What better place to begin than at the beginning. What better way to understand the spiritual meaning of water than to look at where it all began. The Bible placed a link between the Spirit and water before creation began. Of course, the proper way to interpret the spiritual meaning of any symbol is to look at the story the symbol is recorded in, and the previous story. That is not only common sense, it is what is known in Bible Study as context. In this example, the author provided a definite link between the Spirit and water.

We also see another symbol used in the Tabernacle introduced in Genesis. Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4 NLTse). This is another detail to consider when we look at how light is used in the Tabernacle. God created that light, both physical, and what we'll see, spiritual.

God shed a little light on a planet covered in water, His Spirit. Next God needed something to complete the next step. That was land. Where was the land? It was always there. God had to bring it to the surface. What happened to the water? Land came to the surface as water moved below the land. God's Spirit is still over the water, that water only moved position.

God also created a space or separation between the land and heavens, referred to as sky. Then God brought vegetation out of the land. Then God said, Let the land sprout with vegetation--every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came. And that is what happened. (Genesis 1:11 NLTse). Notice how vegetation sprouted up from the land. You have to pay attention to the order of creation to understand the process.

Most people glance over this story. Then point out the obvious, God spoke things into creation. They missed a large portion of God's works, perfection, and planning. Everything was in place before God began His work. So far all God had to do was put it in order. This is a vital point to know if you plan on understanding anything in the Bible as well as how God works in your life and how God works in this world.

God had a planet with His Spirit covering everything. What does that tell you? If you know God, it means everything is in order for it's time. Notice how the author recorded time periods called days? When we see anything repeated, we know we have to pay attention. We also have to look at details repeated words and comments have in common. In this case, every item was in existence in one form or another before God went to work. God put each item in perfect order for the next step.

The Spirit cover the water, that covered everything. The water covered all the land, that God moved into position. The land contained everything required for all the forms of vegetation to spring out of it. After another day, the world was ready for the next step.

But first, lets look at how this story was constructed by the author. If we can't understand how the author constructed a few sentences in a story, how are we ever going to understand how God put this planet together?

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13 KJV).

God didn't take all the credit. He gave some of the credit to the earth. Let the earth bring forth grass. God directed the change, but everything required for the next step was inside the land before God spoke. Why is this important to know. If we are going to understand the plan of salvation, it all begins with understanding God and His personality. God gave credit to dirt.

This is where God threw in a little curve in the process to see if we are paying attention. God likes it when we think, but we still need to depend on Him. If we were creating the world, our process most likely would be, light, which would include the sun, moon, and stars. Then move the land on top of the water, make plants, then animals. But God used His process so we don't forget, God's ways are not our ways, and that will always be a mystery to us. Look at the light. What was that first light if the sun, moon, and stars were created on the forth day? Those were items that weren't in place on this planet before creation began. God used His process to remind us, there is a bigger, smarter force in this universe than us.

We also see time periods repeated, which is an important factor to consider in all forms Bible Study. So far we've been taught the lessons, to rely on God, expect the unexpected, and look at the time periods involved. These are all important factors involved in the study of the Tabernacle, temple, and Sanctuary. More people get lost by confusing or ignoring obvious time frames.

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (Genesis 1:20 KJV). Here we see the same pattern repeated. Except this time, water brought creatures and fowl or birds. It seems rather unusual for birds to come out of water. Another example of looking for the unexpected in God's Word. We can't assume anything. We have to look at the process God followed if we ever hope to understand anything.

Look at the fundamental teaching tools God used. He introduced a process only He determined. Then God used all the birds and creatures in the waters to illustrate a point. We can't hope to understand all of those creatures. That doesn't mean they don't exist. They are living, eating, breathing, duplicating, doing everything God created them to do. 

God wasn't finished with His new world yet. It needed a few extra details. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (Genesis 1:24 KJV). Why didn't God create fish, birds, and animals on the same day? That's a question no one can answer. That's one of those questions you'll have to ask God. As we progress through the story of creation, we will see God's reason for putting that detail in the story of creation. Now we have to look at where those animals