Exodus 25:1-27:21 STudy Guide: The Tabernacle and the Holy Place

Community Group Study Guide —The Tabernacle and the Holy Place

Exodus 25:1-27:21

Study Information:

Have you ever toured a historical site before? Often the tour is led by a docent who volunteers who lead you around and try to bring out all the curios details that makes the place special. They call our famous people who have been there before, where the furniture originated and the important historical things that took place. So when you visit Gettysburg, Sutter’s Mill or the West Hills Red Portable you get a nice breakdown of all the amazing things that took place there. We cannot visit the Tabernacle or Temple today, but in Scripture God does something similar with how he gave the details and plans for the Tabernacle with one particular change, instead of starting from the entrance, God started with the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the covenant and worked his way outward to the entrance, but the description did not end there, God brought the focus back to the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies and by doing so gave us an amazing picture of the gospel. 

A Walk Through the Tabernacle

Exodus 25-27

The Tabernacle instructions start with the most important feature of the dwelling place of God, the Ark of the Covenant. We get transported to the middle of the structure, curtained off by thick veils that had images of stars and cherubim embroidered on them reminding the people of God’s power and glory in creation and the Garden of Eden. The Ark was a rectangular container that was overlaid with gold and contained the tablets of the Law. On top of the Ark were two golden cherubim facing one another forming an area called the “Mercy Seat.” Exodus 26:34 called this the Most Holy Place and Exodus 25:22 instructed us that this was the place where God met with Moses. We know Moses also had access to a place called the Tent of Meeting, and met with God on top of Mount Sinai, but the significance here is important, the Mercy Seat formed a place of God’s divine presence and the Cherubim repressed that divine presence in this section as well as other places in the Old Testament. 

Next we get to see the table of presence and the lamp stand. Both were in the Holy Place and communicated fellowship with God and echoes of the Garden of Eden and the tree of life. 

Exiting out of the Holy of Holies required going through thick veiled curtains with those images of stars, Cherubim and creation. It would be reminiscent of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden and God’s divine presence. 

Next you’d be in an area of the Tabernacle filled with an altar for sacrifice, which allowed the High Priest to make atonement for sin and enter into the Holy of Holies. There’d also be a basin of water for cleansing where the priests were to wash their hands and feet. 

Finally God directs out attention through the exit of the Tabernacle into the outer courts which was located on the South side as you exited through the East. The tent walls here had colorfully embroidered linen but were a reminder that one could not normally enter into the presence of God (Exodus 26:36). 

The Tabernacle instructions concluded in Exodus 30, after the consecration of the priests, taking you back into the Holy of Holies by describing the altar of incense and the mercy seat once again. The instructions are a “there and back again” story taking us from the presence of God, to the people and back to the presence of God. 

Atonement and the Presence of God 

Exodus 25:17-22

The Holy of Holies represented the place where heaven and earth met in God’s presence. Cherubim were woven into the curtains, the Ark with the word of God inside, the altars of incense and lamp stand were meant to remind you of Eden. The most important place in the the most important part of the Tabernacle was the “Mercy Seat” with the Hebrew name “Kippur” which is the word for ransom or to wipe clean. This is the word of atonement and the place of atonement where sin would be dealt with. The Greek New Testament picks up this word and translates it as “propitiation” and attaches it to the work of Jesus, Romans 3:25–26 “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (ESV)” The Mercy Seat on the Ark pointed forward to a day when sin would be wiped away once and for all in the Just and the Justifier in Christ Jesus on the cross. Through confession of faith and trust we can be brought back into the presence of God in Christ. This is magnified in when Jesus was crucified, the curtain in the temple tore in two removing the barrier between the Holy of Holies and the outer courts once and for all (Mark 15:38).

Finally notice the way the Tabernacle description went from the Holy of Holies to the Holy Place to the outer courts and back to the Holy of Holies. This movement is similar to the path of the gospel story in how God the Son left heaven to came and save us and returned to the presence of God in his ascension. God moved from the Holy of Holies because we were unable to come into his presence or as the hymn says “from heaven he came and sought us…” (The Church’s One Foundation). The mission of Jesus was to seek and to save the lost because we could not enter into the presence of God and experience his mercy on our own, God sent forth his son so we could be restored to his presence. God did not leave his people exiled of Eden but restored fellowship through Christ.

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:

Read Exodus 25:1-27:21

How did the Tabernacle communicate the presence of God and how that was exclusive the common everyday Israelite? 

What do you think it would be like to be an Israelite outside the Tabernacle in the outer courts as you knew that sacrifice was happening and the priests were at work inside?

What was in the Ark of the Covenant and how was it decorated? Why was it the center of the Holy of Holies and what do you think this communicates to us about access to God?

We learned that the word “propitiation” in Greek is the same word applied to the Mercy Seat in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. How did the substitutionary death of Jesus fulfill the theme of the Mercy Seat?

A common struggle for many Christians is the feeling of exile or feeling far off from God. How does studying the Tabernacle encourage you with God’s presence? What are some steps you can take to grow in closeness to God and enjoying him today?