What do we know about the tabernacle? Well, we know the tabernacle was movable. The tabernacle was separated because it was special. It was special because it had a singular purpose. We also know the tabernacle was made according to specific directions. And most surprisingly we know that the tabernacle was plain.
In I Corinthians 6:19 we read “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own?” This leads me to something else we should know. We are the tabernacle. Our bodies are the tabernacle of God’s Spirit.
If we compare our bodies to the tabernacle in the wilderness, we can see correlations. Our body is moveable. We are separated because we are special. We are special because we have a singular purpose. And it should not surprise us that God has specific directions for how our temple is to be constructed and used. Now what about this plain part?
Exodus 27:9-17 gives us the plan for the construction of the tabernacle. God specifies that the outer court was to be defined by a wall of linen attached to bronze posts with silver rings. He stated that the tent which housed the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was to have several layers, the inside layer (the walls and ceiling) were to be embroidered with red, purple and blue. There was to be a layer dyed red and the outer layer was to be made of goatskins. How could this possibly apply to us and our tabernacle?
God spent many chapters describing down to the smallest detail the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. God has also spent many chapters in His word describing down to the smallest detail how we should build our tabernacle. Just as it was wrong for the Israelites to change a detail of the tabernacle, it is wrong for us to change a detail of God’s instruction because we decide a part of His instruction is irrelevant or insignificant.
The boundary of the courtyard was white. We too have been washed white (Isaiah 1:18). There is definitely a line where the holy starts and the unholy ends. It is very significant that the outside of the tabernacle was not painted or dyed or embroidered. It was plain. This is in direct opposition to the marketing techniques of our modern world which tells us that we need something to grab the attention of those going past. We have all seen businesses that have had a “facelift” in order to increase their visibility and thus their traffic. God did not do that with the tabernacle. There was no neon sign, no mural or embroidery on the outside to identify it as a place of worship. We, as the temple of the Holy Ghost, should not paint, dye, tattoo or otherwise mark our body. These things are not prescribed by God. These things call attention to ourselves. God has not asked us to make improvements to his design. He does not desire for us to hang a sign with jewelry or a tattoo stating our status as the temple of God.
There was only one part of the outside of the tabernacle that was attention grabbing. It was the door to the courtyard. It was made of purple, blue, and red embroidery. There were white walls of the courtyard, brown animal skins on the Holy Place and a beautiful attention-grabbing door. We know that Jesus is the door. The only thing in our lives which should be grabbing the attention of those we walk by is the Door. Jesus should be the thing that people see when they see us. Not our tattoos, clothes, jewelry, amazing makeup, or hair. It should be noted that we have been with Jesus.
There was another beautiful spot in the Tabernacle. The walls and ceilings of the Holy of Place and Holy of Holies was decorated with beautiful and skillfully made embroidery. The beautiful part of our lives should be our inside character. The fruit of the spirit, a meek and quiet spirit, and our love. Just like the Holy Place was covered on the inside with beautiful embroidery of purple, red and blue our insides should be the most attractive part of our lives. It is the beauty of the inside that reflects the Door on the outside, Jesus. Our character always says the most about us and who we serve.
