If You Build It, He Will Come

“So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” – Exodus 40:38

Moses spends one chapter describing the creation of the world, but twelve chapters describing the instructions for and construction of the tabernacle. Clearly this was no small matter. Why? After thousands of years, something incredible was going to happen. God was going to inhabit a dwelling place with his people, something that had not happened since the garden of Eden. And so, after chapters and chapters of details about the tabernacle, we come to this beautiful climax. They built it, and God came.

Commentators have noted that the tabernacle can be symbolic of Eden. The tabernacle had an east-facing entrance guarded by cherubim, as the garden did. It featured onyx and gold, as there was in the land of Havilah in Eden. The lampstand has been compared to the tree of life, fashioned as it was with branches and blossoms. The ark containing the law has been compared to the tree of knowledge, both touched only on pain of death, both sources of wisdom. The tabernacle had carvings of flowers and palm trees, and pomegranates hung from the priest’s robes.

It’s interesting to think about the tabernacle as a mini-Eden, as God saying, what I am about is restoring a paradise lost, so I can be with you wherever you go. There is a bitter pill here: Moses could not enter. Thus the set-up for the book of Leviticus, which is about making a way for sinners to enter a holy habitation. We see in Leviticus 1:1 that God spoke to Moses “from” the tabernacle, while in Numbers 1:1 God spoke to Moses “in” the tabernacle—in the words of the Bible Project video, “the book of Leviticus worked!”

But God ultimately had something more in mind. Look at the first chapter of John’s gospel, which begins with echoes of creation and Eden (“In the beginning…”). Later on in verse 14, John writes nearly an exact copy of the climax at the end of Exodus: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt [skenoo, lit. “tabernacled,” “pitched his tent”] among us, and we have seen his glory.” Jesus is what the tabernacle was pointing to. He was the tabernacle itself, the veil that tore; he was the divine king, the priest, the sacrifice. He provided the way to freedom from Levitical law. 

The few times skenoo occurs again are also in a book John wrote. Look at Revelation 21:2-3: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place [skene, lit. “tabernacle”] of God is with man. He will dwell [skenoo] with them, and they will be his people.” The tabernacle points to the new Jerusalem, a city with onyx and gold, a river, a tree of life, a lamp which is the Lamb. The glory of God is there, giving light such that we will not need the sun or the moon. Reminiscent of Leviticus, “nothing unclean will ever enter it,” but those who are written in the book of life. Jesus tabernacled, and he will tabernacle again. Paradise will not be lost after all. One day we will live by the very light of God’s glory.