Lesson 8: God's Holiness Generates a Reminder, part 1

The first way God reminds people that He is Holy and we are not is with the Tabernacle.

Exodus 25:1-9 - "The LORD said to Moses, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breast-piece. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”

In these verses we see the amazing orders from God to make a traveling sanctuary out of precious gems, fine linen, goat hair and even the hide of sea cows (porpoises). You might think they built a giant tent made out of weird animal skins. There is much more than meets the eye here. God said to make Him a sanctuary so He can dwell with us. Do you understand the significance of what that means? God loves His people so much He does not want a distant, external religion with them. No! He wants an actual intimate personal relationship with His people.


The problem is that He is Holy and we are not. This makes an intimate relationship with Him impossible for us. So how is a Supernatural, Multi-dimensional, Infinite, Holy God going to communicate this problem to tiny finite unholy human beings? He uses an external teaching tool. This is what the Tabernacle was for. It was an ongoing visual object lesson designed by God to remind us that God not only wants fellowship with us, but we need somebody to save us from our unholiness so we can have fellowship with Him through Jesus!

To make sure we know it is Jesus, God in His wisdom provided clues hidden in every article of the Tabernacle itself. What are these clues reminding us that Jesus is the One Who brings us into fellowship with God?

The first clue reminding us that we need Jesus to get to God is in the Gate. Exodus 27:9,16 - "You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side…For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework. It shall have four pillars and with them four bases."

The first thing you need to do if you are building a sanctuary for God is to establish a perimeter. This is precisely what we have here. The Israelites were to construct a perimeter of fine white linen representing the Holiness of God, and this showed that God was on the inside of this structure and the people were on the outside, revealing our separation from God. However, God made an entrance of a different size and color to show us His desire for fellowship. We can get access to Him, but it must be His way, through His gate - Jesus.

 John 10:9 - “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."

* What does the picture of Jesus as the doorway to a relationship with God mean to you?