The Tabernacle And The Garden

About forty-two years ago (give or take) I had the desire to try to study the New Testament epistles, beginning with the letter to the Romans; but I didn’t realize what would come of that simple desire. As I prepared to start I reasoned (which really wasn’t me) that I really wouldn’t be able to get a true appreciation of the letters without first looking at the Gospels. So I backed up just a bit to the book of Matthew. However, almost immediately, another thought came to me: to understand the New required an understanding of the Old. Thus I found myself beginning to delve into the book of Genesis. Something happened, though, which I hadn’t expected. As I completed the fourth chapter, the Lord told me to go back and begin again. When I reached the fourth chapter a second time, He repeated the request. Well, this also happened a third time and then a fourth, until I saw what He had been trying to get me to see. Consequently, consider the following portion of Scripture.

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 and 10)

Solomon wrote those words about three thousand years ago and they’re as pertinent now as they were then. There’s a reason for that. You see, the wisdom he possessed was not inherent within himself but was the manifestation of the Spirit of God. Therefore, the Lord was telling us something that is more important than we realize. After all, everything He says and does is eternal and is vital for us to know. One of those things is the fact that what we see happening around us today also happened fifty years ago, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago. Man has always been a mixture of good and evil from the very beginning, and we see the effects of that, just as our ancestors saw it. So, in light of the portion of Scripture from Ecclesiastes, I want to speak about what the Lord showed me over forty years ago having to do with the pattern of the tabernacle that was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai.

For those who aren’t familiar with the structure and everything associated with it, this was to be the place where God could meet with His people by having His presence dwelling in their midst, where sacrifices and offerings could be made to Him, and where He could manifest Himself on a daily basis. There was an outer courtyard, called the outer court, encompassed by a linen wall that was one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and five cubits high, supported by pillars covered in brass. And just for your reference, in case you’ve never dealt with them, one cubit was equivalent to about eighteen inches. It was entered at the east side through the gate, which was a linen hanging embroidered with blue and purple and scarlet needlework. Further into the inner court was the altar for the sacrifices, built of wood and covered in brass, and then the brass laver in which the priests washed their hands and feet. Continuing past the laver was the building called the tent. This structure was constructed of wooden boards covered with gold and was divided into two rooms. The first room was the holy place and was twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high. At the east end was the entrance with an embroidered linen vail supported by five wooden pillars covered in gold; and within was the golden seven-branched candlestick on the left (the south), the wooden table of showbread covered in gold on the right (the north), and the wooden altar of incense covered in gold at the west end of the room. Behind this was the second room called the most holy place, which was separated from the holy place by a linen vail embroidered with images of cherubim and supported upon four wooden pillars covered with gold. Within that ten cubit long, ten cubit wide and ten cubit high room was the ark of the covenant, a wooden chest covered with gold, and its lid, a solid gold top called the mercy seat with the forms of cherubim at each end. Finally, over the tent were four individual coverings: one of linen embroidered with cherubim, then one of goats’ hair, then one of rams’ skins dyed red, and the outermost one of badgers’ skins dyed blue. Though this is a relatively shortened description, it should be enough to give you an idea about the entire structure.

The reason I brought this out is to tell you what the Lord showed me some forty plus years ago, and it has a direct relationship with the portion of Scripture in Ecclesiastes. You see, it’s commonly taught that Moses spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai where he received the ten commandments; but that isn’t exactly what happened. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the twentieth book of Exodus, we read that God spoke the commandments audibly from the mount to all of the people. So, when He called Moses up into His presence, the pattern for the tabernacle was the first thing that He revealed. One requirement, however, that God specifically emphasized in Exodus 25:40, Exodus 26:30 and Exodus 27:8 was that everything should be made according to the pattern that was SHOWN to him. That means just one thing: Moses SAW the tabernacle while He was caught up into the heavenly realm, simply because the true tabernacle was a spiritual reality long before it was ever constructed on earth.

What, then, did Moses see? Well, he was looking into God’s realm, where everything is alive and active; so it was virtually impossible for him to build the physical tabernacle exactly like the spiritual one. I considered these things and, though I definitely haven’t had a firsthand knowledge of them, still, I want to propose what some of them could have been. For example, Moses saw the living creatures which not only stand before the throne of God and bear it wherever He commands, and that also soar in the heavenlies; and God instructed him how to show the representation of those things through the cherubim embroidered on the vail and on the linen covering, as well as those cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat which covered the ark. Moses also had to build a representation of the river of life that flows from the throne of God, which was seen in the laver. And how was he supposed to show the various characteristics of the nature of God unless he could represent them through the materials with which the tabernacle was made? God challenged all of Moses’ senses by allowing him to see a realm in which everything that would be static in the natural was actually alive and active there. That, then, was the reason God was so adamant about him making everything exactly as he had been shown.

Though the tabernacle was constructed as a physical structure, it was still imbued with the miraculous aspects of the realm in which it really existed. So, unseen behind the images of the embroidered cherubim were the real cherubim which dwelt around the throne. That, then, was the reason why the high priest could be struck dead if he tried to enter the most holy place improperly. The vail stood as a representation of the living cherubim who were the real guardians of the entrance into God’s presence. That’s also why I believe the unseen living cherubim lifted the vail for the high priest to enter the most holy place on the Day of Atonement when he approached with the basin containing the blood of the sacrifice.

Therefore, over forty years ago, the Lord showed me that the tabernacle didn’t have its beginning with Moses, but, rather, it was seen long before that through Eden and the garden. For this take a look at the following two portions of Scripture.

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:8 and 9)

"Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis 3:23 and 24)

In case you don’t see how the tabernacle could be found within Eden and the garden, let me explain what I’m proposing. Once again, the natural tabernacle was comprised of three areas. The first was the most holy place, wherein was the ark of the covenant and the covering of the mercy seat. Moving outward was the holy place, wherein was the table of showbread, the altar of incense, and the candlestick. Then, outside of the tent was the outer court, wherein was the brazen altar and the laver. This, then, corresponded to Eden, to the garden, and to the land where our first parents went when they were driven out of the garden. And, in case you might have thought that Eden and the garden were speaking of the same place, you have to recognize that “a river went OUT of Eden to water the garden” (Genesis 2:10). Eden and the garden were separate areas. Therefore, first: there was Eden, which was the place of God’s presence; and it prefigured the most holy place in which were the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. Second: there was the garden, showing forth the holy place, and which was populated with “every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food” (the table of showbread), “the tree of life also” (the altar of incense), and “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (the candlestick). And third: the outer court wherein Adam and Eve dwelt after the garden, but wherein they were still able to offer sacrifices to God for their temporary cleansing (the brazen altar and the laver).

There’s something that I want to mention here which will become more evident as I continue. God’s Word is one of types, of symbolism, of parables, to point to truths that requires understanding that comes only through the Holy Spirit. I’ve attempted to briefly explain to you how Eden and the garden prefigured the tabernacle that God showed to Moses on Mount Sinai. But I also substantially elaborated about this in my book called “Glory In The Wilderness”, to reveal a little bit about what He has planned for His people. Consequently, I want to present some more concepts regarding what I see as His purposes for His people.