A Divine Design

The Wilderness Tabernacle After God freed the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, He did not immediately take them into the Promised Land. Instead, He rst led them into the wilderness, to Mount Sinai, where they temporarily settled. Why? These former captives had lost much of their knowledge about God and needed to learn about His plans for them to be a great nation—a nation that would help to reveal His love for the world and help save humanity from sin and death. While the Hebrews lived on these desert plains, Moses often walked up the mountain to meet with God and to receive messages for the people. One day, the Lord said, “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an o ering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My o ering” (Exodus 25:2). The people were to bring precious metals, ne linens, animal skins, oils, spices, incense, and precious stones for this purpose: “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (v. 8). And just as God gave Noah a blueprint for building the ark, He also gave Moses a divine design for building a sanctuary on earth. “According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it” (v. 9). This earthly structure was a simpli ed miniature patterned after “the copies of the things in the heavens”—that is, God’s sanctuary in heaven. (See Hebrews 9:23, 24.) A Heartfelt Response Unfortunately, the people rebelled against God soon after Moses had received this blueprint, so the tabernacle was not immediately built. But eventually, the people happily responded to God’s request, bringing in the large amounts of gold, silver, and other expensive materials necessary to build this earthly dwelling place for the Lord’s presence. When the builders assessed all the materials being brought for the project, they were amazed: “‘The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the L ORD commanded us to do.’… And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was su cient for all the work to be done—indeed too much” (Exodus 36:5–7). Their intense devotion indicated their readiness to serve God. The Bible also explains that God especially gifted certain people with artistic skills in the building of this structure. “Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the L ORD has put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the L ORD has commanded” (Exodus 36:1). So what did this sacred sanctuary look like? 7