Let Them Make Me a Sanctuary: The Tabernacle Colors in Exodus 25

Moses has been on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. The cloud covers Sinai. The glory of the LORD sits on top of it like a devouring fire, and the whole camp of Israel can see it burning.

And what does God talk to him about up there?

Carpentry. Curtains. Colors of thread. Goats’ hair and badgers’ skins. Page after page of measurements that most Bible readers skim on their way to somewhere more exciting.

But look at why God wanted any of it built:

“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exodus 25:8-9)

That I may dwell among them. The God of that fire on the mountain wanted to live in a tent in the middle of His people. Of all the studies in the Word of God, I don’t know one I enjoy more, because every board and every thread of the tabernacle points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And before a single board was cut, God asked the people a question that He is still asking you.

Before a single board was cut, God asked for a willing heart

Here is where it starts:

“And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24:15-18)

Everything Moses built afterward was copied from what he saw there. The New Testament tells you exactly what that means:

“Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” (Hebrews 8:5)

The word tabernacle means a temporary dwelling place. It served Israel for about four hundred years, and then the Lord moved into something more permanent, the temple Solomon built:

“So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.” (2 Chronicles 5:14)

Then Christ came, and God dwelt in a body of flesh:

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9)

And now Christ abides in the heart of every true believer. From the tent to the temple to the Savior to you, God has always wanted the same thing. He wants to live with His people.

But notice the first requirement:

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.” (Exodus 25:2)

Willingly. God did not want anything given by force. Having a house of God was going to cost the people something, and the Lord wanted to know how far they would go for it.

He did not want people who felt they had to do something. He wanted people who felt they got to.

“Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.” (Deuteronomy 15:10) “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Years ago we had a little sign by the offering box: If you’re a cheerful giver, ring the bell. Some folks misunderstood it and thought we were putting on a show. We weren’t. Nobody broadcasts an amount. God is looking at the heart. A few of the old guard still ring it, and our treasurer still says, “Praise the Lord!”

So let me ask you what God asked Israel. How much would you be willing to give to have a house of God?

You cannot build God’s house with one hand still in Egypt

Where did a nation of freed slaves get gold and silver in the middle of a desert?

From Egypt. After the death of the firstborn, the Egyptians were urgent to have them gone, crying, “We be all dead men.” And on the way out the door:

“And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:35-36)

Egypt was practically paying them to leave. Throughout Scripture, Egypt is a picture of the world. Now God would ask for a portion of that newly acquired worldly wealth to build His house. That would prove whether they had left Egypt in their hearts or only with their feet.

The first answer was not good:

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.” (Exodus 32:1-2) “And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:4)

Forty is the number of testing and trial in Scripture. Moses was gone forty days, and they could not wait. They could see the cloud still sitting on Sinai and hear the thundering. God was plainly still up there. And they asked for a god they could see rather than trust the One they could not.

Moses came down, ground that calf to powder, put it in the water, and made Israel drink it. Then he drew a line:

“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” (Exodus 32:26)

About three thousand men died that day. The rest got right with God. And when the call went out again for the tabernacle, this is what happened:

“And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” (Exodus 36:5-7)

Isn’t it amazing what can be done in a body when that which is doing nothing but complain is removed?

They had come close to being wiped out for their foolishness. They repented, and they responded in a big way. They didn’t just give what was required. They gave above and beyond it, until Moses had to tell them to stop.

Don’t give God your leftovers

Here is the list:

“And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.” (Exodus 25:3-7)

None of these things lost value over time. They were the best the people had.

A missionary friend of mine wrote a thick hardbound book on biblical missions. He told me about the day a care package arrived from a church back in the States. He opened it and found a ziplock bag full of tea bags.

Used tea bags.

Somebody had thought, Well, you can get a second cup out of these, so I’ll send them to the missionary. Now, I’ll admit a good many of us have used a tea bag twice. But when he told me that, I just stood there in stunned silence.

Don’t give God your leftovers. He deserves the firstfruits.

The tabernacle colors preach the gospel, and they start with gold

There were fourteen materials in all, two times seven, and seven is the number of perfection and completion. From them seven pieces of furniture would be made. And the materials themselves preach.

Gold stands for deity. It stands for God.

I’ve never met anybody who didn’t like gold. Most of us wear it on our wedding finger. In the Air Force you had to take off every bit of gold and jewelry before you went out on the flight line. If a ring caught in something, you could lose a finger. Twenty-four karat is the purest gold we know, and it is so soft you can bend it.

It is first on the list for a reason. If a thing matters, it begins with God.

Silver: you were bought with a price

Silver is redemption. Silver is what they bought things with. It paid the ransom.

“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” (Revelation 5:9) “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

He purchased you. You did not buy your way into God’s house. Somebody paid.

Brass: judgment, and a serpent on a pole

Brass is judgment. Israel murmured again, and this time God answered with snakes:

“And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numbers 21:6-9)

I hate snakes. I have nightmares about them coming out of the rafters. I cannot imagine a camp crawling with hundreds, maybe thousands, of poisonous serpents and people dying all around me.

Notice that God did not remove the serpents right away. He gave the people a way of escape. That is Calvary. Every one of us has been bitten by sin, and there is no escaping what comes of it:

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27)

The Lord Himself tied it together:

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)

The condition was to look. They had to turn and look. That is repentance. They had to believe God’s word enough to do it. The man who thought it was foolishness and refused to turn died where he lay. Whoever looked was healed. Look and live.

And sadly, the flesh being what it is, they held on to that brass serpent and turned it into an idol for about seven hundred years:

“He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.” (2 Kings 18:4)

Nehushtan means a piece of brass. It could not do a thing. The healing was never in the brass. It was in the God who said look.

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13)

God gave the law knowing full well you and I could not keep it. He gave it so man could see he is nothing like God and that he has broken God’s law. We all have. But Christ redeemed us, and there is that silver again. He died, shed His blood, and rose again, so that you pass from death unto life.

Blue: as far as God is concerned, you are already in heaven

Blue is heaven, your new nature and your new origin. When you are born again, you have a new home waiting for you.

“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” (Ephesians 2:5-6)

That is hard for us to comprehend. It is not hard for God. In His eternal scheme of things, you are already seated there with Him.

And heaven’s King is coming back. John saw Him on Patmos, walking among the golden candlesticks, which are the churches:

“And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” (Revelation 1:15)

His feet are brass. He is coming in all His glory and power, in judgment upon this world.

Purple: anybody can join this royal family

Mix red and blue, and you get purple. Purple is royalty.

“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:15-17) “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26) “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 1:5-6)

If you are saved, you are a prince or a princess of the King of kings. I love singing with my sons about the day the angels stand at attention while the redeemed begin to sing.

And here is the best thing about God’s aristocracy. It is not exclusive. Nobody is shut out. It is open to anyone who will repent and believe the gospel.

Scarlet and fine linen: the blood, and the robe it buys you

Scarlet is the blood. Some have called the tabernacle the house of blood, because of all the sacrifices God required there.

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” (Ephesians 1:7) “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22)

It is all about the blood. It still saves from sin.

Fine linen is spotless righteousness.

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Revelation 19:7-8)

The wife is the church. And that linen is not something she wove herself:

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:12)

Goats’ hair: the one who carried it all away

Then, right after all that gold and purple and fine linen, comes something plain: goats’ hair.

Goats’ hair speaks of the sin-bearer. You may remember the two goats brought before the high priest on the day of atonement. One was offered as the blood sacrifice. The other was the scapegoat:

“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” (Leviticus 16:21-22)

One goat died. The other carried the sin away where nobody would ever find it again. Christ did both.

That I may dwell among them

Go back to the mountain. The fire is burning on Sinai, and the God of that fire is telling Moses, I want to live with them.

Deity. Redemption. Judgment. Heaven. Royalty. Blood. Righteousness. A sin-bearer. It was all woven into one tent in the wilderness so that God could dwell among His people. It was all fulfilled in one Man on one cross.

So I have two questions for you, and I will wait for your answers.

If you have never been saved, have you looked? The serpent is lifted up. Whosoever looks will live.

And if you have, what are you still holding from Egypt?

God wants to dwell with you.

What will you give Him?

Adapted from a message preached from Exodus 25:1-9.